Aqilah Sandhu, a star student at Augsburg University law faculty, began a traineeship with the Bavarian judicial system after completing her state law exams, but was told in a letter that she was not allowed to interrogate witnesses or appear in courtrooms while wearing her headscarf.
The battle started after Sandhu successfully completed her state exams and started a traineeship with the Bavarian judicial system. In July 2014, the highest court in the state sent her a letter informing her that she was forbidden from interrogating witnesses or fulfilling other legal duties as long as she continued to wear a headscarf, the Local reported.
“As soon as I saw the letter I knew it was unlawful,” she told the court on Thursday.She immediately asked for an explanation of the ban, to which she was told “(religious) clothing and symbols can impair the trust in the religious neutrality of the administration of justice.”
But the state of Bavaria has no law forbidding legal trainees from wearing religious symbols, so Sandhu took the Bavarian legal system to court.
“I felt very strongly discriminated against. I felt neglected in my training,” Sandhu was quoted as saying. She described how she was excluded from certain activities of the traineeship because of her headscarf.
On one occasion the judge who was training her would only allow her to see pictures that were part of a court process after the process was over, as otherwise she would have had to step up to the judges’ desk — an area she was forbidden from entering.
“I believe in the principle of merit here in Germany and I think it is a shame that I am being reduced to my outward appearance,” Sandhu said.