Rupinder Kaur and her family have accused two soldiers of racially abusing them at Windsor Castle in January 2022.
Rapinder, 36, and her turban-wearing husband along with their two-year-old child visited the castle (it is open to public to visit as a monument) when according to the family, they were subjected to abuse by guards.
According to the British media reports, now the family are threatening to take legal action against the government.
According to a report in The Independent, Ms Kaur and her family were walking alongside the castle’s wall, when two soldiers standing in a palace window made inappropriate “We are watching you” gestures, laughing and showing them the middle finger.
Kaur and her family made complaints to the Royal Collection Trust, and the Ministry of Defence (MOD) after the visit. Royal Collection Trust operates the palace and MOD manages and carries the responsibility for the guards.
Although they received an apology from a top-ranking lieutenant, and were informed that the ‘soldiers’ on duty on the day would receive refresher training, the family says the matter hasn’t been dealt with properly.
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Rupinder Kaur and her husband believe their complaint has not been given the attention it deserved and they have not had appropriate response to their complaint.
The family believe that the sole reason for being targeted and singled out by the soldiers was because of their skin colour and the fact that the husband was wearing a turban.
The family claim they were the only non-white people there, and the soldiers targeted them out of everyone else.
To the family’s letter of January 2022, the government’s lawyers replied in June 2022, denying knowledge of the incident and stating that the lieutenant’s apology was “not an admission of liability”.
What makes the whole thing intriguing is the fact that they family say they received an apology in an email response to their complaint but the legal department of the British government denied the incident taking place. Rupinder has been quoted as complaining against the legal department asking her to prove it.
The Independent, quoted Ms Kaur telling the publication: “It is disappointing the Government Legal Department has denied any record of this incident. First, the lieutenant who investigated the incident apologised, but then the Government Legal Department deny it happened, asking me to prove it. Why apologise at all if there was nothing to apologise for?
“I feel that there is a level of protection afforded to individuals within certain institutions, which does not apply to people like us, minorities. But as a Sikh, I feel protected within my faith by practising honesty.”
More to come, may not be Windsor Castle but the British government’s legal department.
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