Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is considering tighter laws on Sikh daggers following the murder of Henry Nowak in Southampton. She confirmed she has not taken any options off the table regarding changes to current laws that exempt religious items from knife legislation.
The move follows scrutiny of how the government approaches the ownership of kirpan knives after Vickrum Digwa used one to murder Mr Nowak. The killer used an eight-inch blade in the attack and persuaded the court it was a kirpan, a religious item carried by Sikh men.
Call for tighter definition
Mr Nowak's family is campaigning for the government to tighten the definition of the kirpan in British law. Current rules set in the Criminal Justice Act 1988 allow Sikhs to wear one if they have been baptised and received spiritual training.
When he attacked and murdered Mr Nowak, Digwa was carrying a 21cm-long weapon and a small kirpan. Digwa will now serve a minimum of 25 years after a judge ruled the sentence he had initially been handed should be increased by a further four years, branding the previous sentence unduly lenient.
Government response
Asked by ITV about potential changes to the law, Ms Mahmood said: "I haven't taken any options off the table. I'm also not going in with a fixed mind about what the right clarifications of the law might be."
She added: "It's important to get the right balance between religious expression in this country, which is something that many of us of a faith, including myself, hold very dearly, but do so in a way that is within what we expect of our citizens for the purposes of the criminal law."
Ms Mahmood said the religious exemption has been long understood, but recent practices of much bigger kirpans on display differ from how most Sikhs practise this part of their religion, where the blade is usually much smaller and discreetly worn. She said she has undertaken to the Nowak family to look at the issue carefully.
Political reaction
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said a law change would be reasonable, adding: "Protecting religious freedoms means one particular thing. There is no freedom to murder in any religion. And I think that we need to bring some common sense into this."
She said the issue needs to be looked at to ensure religious minorities are integrated into culture and that people do not use loopholes that exist for religious minorities to commit crimes. She said using a religious object should not allow a lesser sentence, adding: "If somebody hurts you with a wooden crucifix, they shouldn't get a lighter sentence."
