A Sikh family has threatened to take legal action against the UK government after allegedly being subjected to racial discrimination at the Windsor Castle last year, according to reports.
36-year-old Rupinder Kaur and her turban-wearing husband claimed that two British Army guards laughed at them and showed them the middle finger as they were walking alongside the castle's wall along with their two-year-old child.
The guards were apparently standing in a palace window and made "We are watching you" gestures as well.
The family then lodged a complaint at the Royal Collection Trust, which operates the palace, and the Ministry of Defence (MOD), which bears responsibility for the guards.
Apology from 'top-ranking lieutenant'
Kaur claims they got an apology on email from a top-ranking lieutenant.
"The claimant believes that the sole reason for being targeted and singled out by the soldiers was because of their skin colour and the fact that her husband was wearing a turban," a letter sent from the family's solicitors to the Government Legal Department in January 2022 read.
In a reply in June 2002, the government's lawyers denied any knowledge of the incident and stated that the lieutenant's apology was "not an admission of liability".
"It is disappointing (that) the Government Legal Department has denied any record of this incident. First, the lieutenant who investigated the incident apologised, but then the Government Legal Department denied it happened, asking me to prove it. Why apologise at all if there was nothing to apologise for?" Rapinder Kaur told The Independent.
"I feel that there is a level of protection afforded to individuals within certain institutions, which does not apply to people like us, minorities," she rued. (With IANS inputs)
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