Tejindar Singh Kahlon, who lives in East Meadow in Long Island, New York, had contended his religion forbade him from removing his turban for a security check.
The incidents took place on October 25 and 26 last year, nearly six weeks after the September 11 terrorist attacks. But Kahlon, 65, filed the suit on Tuesday in the US district court in Central Islip against the Town of Islip, which operates the airport; the Southwest Airlines from where he had got his ticket; and the security firm International Total Services, responsible for safety of the passengers.
The suit said airport security officials refused to search him with a metal detector or by touching his turban while it was on his head, said a report in Newsday, a daily published from New York City.
Sikhs consider removing their turban in public the equivalent of going naked, and the US Department of Transportation said requiring Kahlon to do so was a violation of federal anti-discrimination statutes, the paper quoted Kahlon's attorney Thomas Liotti of Garden City as saying.
Kahlon, an attorney who is a hearing officer at Nassau County Family Court, was planning to take a Southwest flight to attend the wedding of a friend's daughter last October 25 when he was asked to step off a line of passengers for a turban search, Liotti said.
According to Kahlon's lawyer, a Southwest manager told Kahlon if he returned the next day he could get a flight and would not have to remove his turban.
But when Kahlon returned on October 26, 2001, the manager pleaded that Islip security officials were not willing to exempt the Sikh gentleman from removing his turban. Kahlon was unable to attend the wedding, the lawsuit says.
Kahlon, who was born in Pakistan, has been a US citizen for about 30 years.
Liotti told the court he had known "Ted" Kahlon for 20 years and that he was a first class gentleman, citizen, attorney and judge who is also a devout in his religious beliefs.
"It was a flagrant denial of his civil rights, a humiliating and thoroughly embarrassing occurrence for which he is entitled to substantial recompense," the lawsuit said.
Islip spokesman Michele Remsen said the town does not comment on pending lawsuits. Southwest Airlines declined to comment because they said they have not yet seen what was in the suit. The security firm could not be reached, the Newsday report said.
