I read with interest Pragna Patel’s opinion piece about the Sikh court (The world is getting its first Sikh court in London. That’s a threat to women’s rights, 31 May). Southall Black Sisters, the organisation of which she is a founding member, is an important institution in the South Asian community and has been defending women’s rights since it was founded. We are cognisant of Pragna’s concerns, which are rooted in her organisation’s experience.
We agree that religious courts can create safeguarding concerns and that traditionally patriarchal religious and cultural bodies can place pressure on women to comply or acquiesce.
The Sikh court is not a religious court. We operate with a Sikh ethos and apply the Sikh principles of equality, integrity and fairness to our conduct, but not to our decision-making. We apply the law of England and Wales to resolve disputes before us.
As family law practitioners, we are acutely attuned to the need for robust safeguarding procedures, which is why we have a comprehensive safeguarding policy, developed in collaboration with a number of womens’ rights charities, published on our website.
Our polling within the community indicated a desire among respondents to see “people who looked like them” on the bench. We recognise efforts in the judiciary to improve representation, but in the meantime, we offer a more representative forum – in fact, 67% of our judges are women.
Transparency and accountability are core to the Sikh court. We will publish an anonymised statement of reasons for each matter resolved by us, so that our decisions can be scrutinised.
We are also constituting an independent review panel to review our work – we welcome Pragna to engage with us and perhaps consider joining the panel.
The Sikh court is now open and we look forward to assisting anyone, Sikh or non-Sikh, who wishes to use our service in resolving their disputes.
Sharan Kaur Bhachu
Family lead judge, Sikh court
