A university has been forced to apologise after handcuffing a Sikh student for having a ceremonial knife.
Police were called to the University of North Carolina in Charlotte and placed a student in handcuffs following a 911 call.
But after speaking to the student they soon removed the handcuffs as the knife was in fact a kirpan - an article of faith in Sikhism.
The Sikh Coalition, which defends its members civil rights, said Sikhs are instructed to have the kirpan with them at all times.
A video of the handcuffing was uploaded to social media and went viral which showed the person being talked to by police.
The tweet, which was posted along with the video, said: “I wasn’t going to post this, but I don’t think I will receive any support from @unccharlotte.
"I was told someone called 911 and reported me, and I got cuffed for ‘resisting’ because I refused to let the officer take my kirpan out of the miyaan. @CLTNinerNews.”
The university claimed state law and university policy “prohibit the possession of a knife or other edged instruments on campus”.
After receiving backlash following the incident, the university said it would use the experience to learn and work better with its students.
A campus message was sent to students which said: “Together, we are confident we can find reasonable measures and educational opportunities that both protect the safety of our campus and the religious practices of our community members.
“We want every Niner to feel welcomed, supported and safe. We apologise that is not what this young man felt in our union yesterday.”
The Sikh Coalition, however, said the incident was "disturbing" and said although the religious symbol resembled a knife - it is, in fact, a religious artefact.
Spa Wan Eet Singh, a leader in the in the Sikh community, told Channel 9 : “That is is a Sikh article of faith, (so) the notion around ‘weapon’ does not stand."
Sikh Coalition member Dr Suneet Kaur said he was grateful the university apologised and said it will help the student who was involved.
Suneet reached out to the pupil affected, he said: “Of course, (we) offered him some encouragement and advice. If it happened to any one of us or to any one of our children, we’d be feeling so many emotions.”
The chancellor of the university has said they will offer more discussions to make sure the situation doesn't happen again.
