DMV Changes Policy On Turbans
August 29, Connecticut
By Noreen Gillespie, Associated Press
The Department of Motor Vehicle workers will no longer ask for written documentation
when motorists want to keep their turbans and other religious headgear on while
their driver's license photos are taken.
DMV employees will now take people at their word when they say their religion
prohibits them from removing their headgear in public. Department policy does
not allow motorists to wear hats or other objects on their heads when getting
their pictures taken.
In an internal memo Tuesday, state motor vehicle Commissioner Gary DeFilippo
urged workers to "use common sense" in enforcing the policy.
The memo said that people who have religious beliefs that do not allow them
to remove certain headgear may keep it on for the picture, DMV spokesman Bill
Seymour said. "He has told the staff it went too far in possibly affecting
some people's religious rights," Seymour said.
The department previously required a letter from a religious organization to
verify an individual has religious beliefs that require them to wear a turban.
Amarjit Singh Buttar of Vernon, chairman of the World Sikh Council - America
Region, said he recently complained about the policy after several Sikhs who
tried to renew their licenses at the DMV office in Norwalk were asked to remove
their turbans.
Sikhs consider removing turbans in public to be sacrilegious, Buttar said.
Buttar sent a letter in late July to Gov. John G. Rowland, whom he met last
year at a gathering at a Sikh temple following the Sept. 11 attacks. He said
that letter was forwarded to the motor vehicles department, and he was notified
Tuesday of the change in policy.
"That's all I wanted," said Buttar, who has never been asked to remove
his turban for a license picture. He has had a Connecticut driver's license
since 1970. "I feel vindicated. I strongly felt that something was wrong,
unacceptable."
While the policy change does apply to turbans, individuals who wear veils must
still remove them, Seymour said, because the purpose of the license is to have
a facial picture. But he said the DMV would continue to make special arrangements,
such as allowing motorists to come in early when fewer people are around or
allowing only females to operate the camera.