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Hindu Women in Britain Dismissed For Wearing Nose Stud

Amrit Lalji, a Heathrow Airport worker in Londo, has been dismissed for wearing a nose stud. Amrit wore the tiny piercing as a mark of her Hindu faith but a manager, at caterers Eurest, suddenly found it objectionable as jewelry can harbor bacteria and find its way into the food people eat.

She was wearing the stud at work for quite sometime and Eurest hard no problem , until a manager suddenly found ‘bacteria with naked eyes’ – in fact the nose stud worn by Amrit is so small that we can hardly detect it on her photo in BBC news.

Last year, Eurest had dismissed a Christian woman for wearing a cross but had to reinstate her after protest from clerics.

Amrit had produced a letter from her local Hindu community to support her case.

The problem here is not bacteria in food or the nose stud. Some people cannot tolerate or respect other religions and beliefs. Before checking bacteria in food, such people should change their mindset. The nose stud can be cleaned but sadly, no detergent is available to clean the mind of such people.

Update: Amrit Lalji has been reinstated and resumed work at the airport on October 7, 2007.

Commenting on her reinstatement, a spokesman for Eurest said that the company had discovered that "the rules relating to facial piercings are mandatory only in catering operations".

"Since Mrs Lalji is not engaged in catering, her dismissal resulted from a misunderstanding of the rules and is therefore unjustified."