A Sikh Facebook group is not impressed with Kamala Harris. Here's why

The world has, in the recent days, been overwhelmed with Kamala Harris scripting history in the US. But not a Sikh Facebook group, which has reminded its followers about Harris' role in a lawsuit filed by a man from the community.

The Sikh man, Trilochan Oberoi -- a former commander in the Indian Navy, had challenged an official agency of California for denial of a job to him because of his beard.

According to an article circulated by citysikhs.org.uk, one of the largest International Sikh groups on Facebook, Oberoi was denied job as a state corrections officer in California in USA in 2005 because he refused to shave his beard. 

The beard apparently posed problem for the mandated gas-mask fitting.

Oberoi reapplied for the position and was again denied. He then sued the state.

Kamala Harris had then sworn in as California’s first Indian-American attorney general only three days before.

In the court filings, she backed the Department of Correction, saying that no exception to the rule had been made since the policy came into effect in 2004.

The case was again mentioned when Harris announced her intention to run for the post of the US President.

Kate Waters, spokeswoman for the Harris campaign back then, explained to the RNS in an email that Harris’s hands were tied. 

The state eventually settled the case in 2011, six years after Oberoi had originally applied for the job. It paid Oberoi $295,000 in damages and gave him a manager position in the corrections department. 

But no change was made to the no-beard policy.