Education
UK Sikhs defend right to carry sacred dagger after student murder backlash
Key Points
Britain’s Sikh community has rejected calls to strip them of the rights to carry a ceremonial knife – known as the kirpan – as outrage snowballs over the murder of an 18-year-old student by a Sikh man. Vickrum Singh Digwa, 23, was handed a life sentence by a judge on Tuesday for stabbing to death Henry Nowak, an accountancy student, in Southampton in December 2025. The murder case has reopened a debate over race, religion and identity in the UK.
Britain’s Sikh community has rejected calls to strip them of the rights to carry a ceremonial knife – known as the kirpan – as outrage snowballs over the murder of an 18-year-old student by a Sikh man.
Vickrum Singh Digwa, 23, was handed a life sentence by a judge on Tuesday for stabbing to death Henry Nowak, an accountancy student, in Southampton in December 2025.
The murder case has reopened a debate over race, religion and identity in the UK.
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