Since September 10 last year, Ravinder Singh Bhalla has been waiting to go to the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention center. He may get his wish in a few weeks, now that the Federal Bureau of Prisons has upheld his right, as a Sikh, to wear his turban while visiting his client. He would not be subjected to a search of his turban as he enters the jail.

“This is certainly not the first time the right of Sikhs to wear a turban has been upheld in America,” 29-year-old Bhalla, a Newark, New Jersey-based attorney, told India Abroad. “But every time we win the right, it gives us an opportunity to enhance awareness about our faith.”

He also said in the present climate where there are a lot of things going against immigrants, his victory should spur other immigrants, particularly South Asians, to fight for their rights. Bhalla himself was born in America.

“What I asked [from the prison authorities] wasn’t anything not sanctioned by the American Constitution,” he said. “I wanted the freedom to practice my religion like any other American.” He also added that he was not against searching a turban if the authorities had reasonable reason to believe a person was or could engage in a criminal activity.

“My fight in this case was against blanket searches,” he added, recalling that the guards wanted to search the turban even after he had gone through a metal detector.

Bhalla, who has a masters degree in public administration from the London School of Economics and a law degree in public administration from Tulane University Law School, was backed in his fight by the Sikh Coalition, which was founded soon after September 11, 2001, when many Sikhs feared they could be discriminated against.

The Coalition has won a significant concession from the federal Department of Transportation: turbans are not searched at the airport as a general practice, Bhalla said. Bhalla is also handling a lawsuit brought by a Sikh graduate of the New York City Police Academy who was denied permanent employment because he would not shave his beard and trim his hair.

“In fighting the authorities in Brooklyn, I was asserting several rights,” he continued. “It was a fight on many levels including my First Amendment right to practice my religion. I also argued for my Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches.”

“And then there was my client’s Sixth Amendment right to the attorney he had chosen,” he said.

He said during the months he has been fighting his case before the Federal District Court in Newark and the Department of Justice in Washington, a fellow attorney had been attending his client, a Dominican immigrant, at the detention center.

To some people the directive issued by the federal authorities may look simple or even insignificant, Bhalla mused.

“We see it in a broader perspective,” he said. “It is not just a victory to the Sikh community, it is a victory for the rights of minorities.”