A political dispute has erupted over the legal exemption allowing Sikhs to carry kirpans in public after Reform UK pledged to repeal the protection following a recent murder conviction.
The debate was triggered by the case of Vickrum Digwa, 23, who was convicted of murdering 18-year-old university student Henry Nowak in Southampton using a 21cm kirpan, a ceremonial blade carried by some Sikhs as an article of faith. Digwa's mother was also convicted of assisting an offender by helping remove the weapon after the attack.
Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf said the party would abolish the exemption if it came to power, arguing that no one other than law enforcement officers should be allowed to carry bladed weapons in public.
“I don’t care what religion you are. Nobody other than law enforcement will get to carry deadly weapons under a Reform government,” Yusuf wrote on X.
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