“The Home Office appears to be using this case as a deflection tactic."
The Sikh Federation has accused the Home Office of “inappropriately targeting” the kirpan following renewed debate over knife laws after the fatal stabbing of 18-year-old Henry Nowak in Southampton.
The organisation said the Government was diverting attention from alleged failures by police and other agencies by focusing on the religious blade, insisting it was not the weapon used to kill the teenager in December 2025.
Mr Nowak was handcuffed by police as he lay dying after his attacker, Vickrum Digwa, falsely accused him of racial abuse.
The case has prompted renewed calls for changes to knife legislation, with the teenager’s father urging the Government to clarify the legal definition of a kirpan.
In a statement, the Sikh Federation said: “The Home Office is attempting to deflect attention away from the real failings by the police and other Government agencies in the Henry Nowak case by inappropriately targeting the kirpan, a sacred article of Sikh faith, despite the clear fact that the murder weapon was not a kirpan.”
Dabinderjit Singh, the organisation’s chief executive for political engagement, added:
“The Home Office appears to be using this case as a deflection tactic.
“The facts are clear: the murder weapon was not a kirpan.
“Yet instead of addressing the failures that allowed this tragedy to happen, the Government is now allowing inaccurate and harmful narratives about the Sikh faith to take hold.
“That is unacceptable.”
The Sikh Federation is urging more than 250 Gurdwaras to write to Prime Minister Andy Burnham, while thousands of Sikhs are expected to contact their MPs “demanding that the Home Office stop its discriminatory approach and engage properly with Sikh organisations”.
The organisation has also called for an urgent meeting with the Government to discuss its concerns.
Mr Singh added: “Sikhs support public safety and the fight against knife crime.
“But we will not accept the sacred kirpan being falsely associated with a murder weapon that was not a kirpan.
“The Home Office must stop this divisive and irresponsible agenda and meet Sikh institutions immediately.”
Digwa was initially sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 21 years for the murder.
However, the Court of Appeal increased the minimum term to 25 years on Thursday after ruling the original sentence was “unduly lenient”.
During Digwa’s sentencing hearing in June, Judge William Mousley KC said the killer had a kirpan concealed from view on the night of the attack.
Digwa also carried a “large dagger in a sheath” measuring 21cm, which the court heard was connected to his membership of the Nihang, an order of Sikhs whose traditions include carrying a second knife.
Although carrying a knife in public is generally illegal in the UK, exemptions exist for certain purposes, including work and religious reasons.
The kirpan is among the religious articles permitted under current legislation.
Mr Nowak’s father has called for the law to be more specific about what constitutes a kirpan, suggesting it should clearly establish its permitted size, type and whether it must be visible when carried.
He told ITV News: “And therefore, anything else should be made illegal.”
Responding to his proposal, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told the broadcaster that she was keeping potential changes to the law under consideration.
“I haven’t taken any options off the table.
“I’m also not going in with a fixed mind about what the right clarifications of the law might be.
“It’s important to get the right balance between religious expression in this country, which is something that many of us of a faith, including myself, hold very dearly, but do so in a way that is within what we expect of our citizens for the purposes of the criminal law.”
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch also indicated that knife legislation should be examined, saying politicians “do need to look at” the laws.
“There is no freedom to murder in any religion and I think that we need to bring some common sense into this.”
Meanwhile, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has confirmed that its investigation into potential failures in the police response to Mr Nowak’s stabbing is expected to conclude early next year.
The watchdog announced in July that two police officers were under investigation for potential gross misconduct in connection with the incident.
