Sikh teenager forced to take off turban at airport

A Sikh-American teenager, who penned a book about bullying of children from the community , was forced to remove his turban by airport personnel in California, a media report said.Karanveer Singh Pannu, an 18-year-old high school student from New Jersey , had gone to talk about his book `Bullying of Sikh American Children: Through the Eyes of a Sikh American High School Student’ in the annual Sikh Youth Symposium in Bakersfield, California.
“After going through the metal detector, I was asked to do a self-pat down of my turban and a swab test for explosive material. After a positive swab test, I was taken to a secondary screening room to be given a full pat down and was asked to remove my turban to be further scanned,” Pannu said, adding that he was threatened when he refused at first. “Before I removed my turban, Agent Hernandez asked, `Is there anything we need to be aware of before you remove your turban?’ I answered there is a lot of long hair and something called the brain underneath.” Pannu said he felt “utterly humiliated, shaken, distraught“ by the experience.