WASHINGTON: Prosecutors have dropped criminal charges against Sahadur Singh, a Sikh American truck driver, who was arrested for wearing his kirpan (a religious article of faith) in California. The charges were dismissed after the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), the nation's oldest and largest Sikh civil rights organization, intervened on behalf of Singh.

Last December Sahadur Singh, a Utah resident, was driving in Kern County, California, when a police officer stopped him for a normal traffic violation. The police officer spotted the kirpan underneath Singh's clothing and arrested him for violating the State's concealed weapon law and for resisting arrest when Singh tried to explain the significance of the kirpan.

On the way to the police station, Kern County officers reportedly screamed at Singh asking him, "Are you a terrorist?", "When was the last time you went over there, Taliban?" and "Did you ever send money to the Taliban?" At the request of Singh, SALDEF contacted the prosecutor in the case, sending information detailing the religious significance of the kirpan along with a list of case law documenting the dismissal of similar charges against other Sikhs across the country.