Bullied Sikh student laughs off cruel taunts on Reddit

A Sikh U.S. university student who defended her facial hair and faith when a photo of her went viral has won a legion of fans for her dignified response, the Daily Mail reported Wednesday.

A man took a photo without Balpreet Kaur’s consent and uploaded onto Reddit in the “funny” category with the tagline “im (sic) not sure what to conclude from this”.

The picture shows her standing in a queue. The student, who is president of the Sikh Student Association, refused to attack the person who had posted the photo.

The aspiring neurosurgeon, instead of flying into a rage at the person behind the cheap dig, posted a comment explaining why she didn’t remove her hair, the newspaper said.

Kaur, who is an Ohio State University student, pointed out that as part of the five Ks that Sikhs follow, one of the tenets is Kesh, which asks that she allows her hair to grow naturally and does not cut it.

Kaur said: “I’m not embarrassed or even humiliated by the attention (negative and positive) that this picture is getting because it’s who I am.”

Many viewers accused the person behind the cheap dig of being mean and deliberately trying to draw laughs at Kaur’s expense.

“Yes, I’m a baptized Sikh woman with facial hair. Yes, I realize that my gender is often confused and I look different than most women,” Kaur said.

“However, baptized Sikhs believe in the sacredness of this body – it is a gift that has been given to us by the Divine Being [which is genderless, actually] and, must keep it intact as a submission to the divine will.”

Kaur took to Reddit to say that she was trying to ignore society’s view of beauty, and hoped she could concentrate on more important things.

Tags: bullying, Sikh, university