All French cars have been removed from FastestCars.info. The reason is that we want to show our discontent over the passing of an outrageous law in the French Parliament and Senate in February and March 2004. The law outlaws conspicuous religious clothing and symbols in classrooms in public schools.

The ban will be effective for the beginning of the 2004-05 school year in September.

Since some religions require or recommend the wearing of certain symbols this law hinders people in practising their religion. We find that this law violates fundamental human rights as outlined below.

Sincerely,

Parvinder Singh Randhawa
Founder and editor of FastestCars.info

The following are abstracts from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

"Article 2
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

...
Article 26
1. Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit."

The French law denies the right to free elementary education for followers of certain religions.

One religion that requires wearing of symbols that are now outlawed in French public schools is Sikhism.

The following is an abstract from Guru Granth Sahib - The Sikh holy scriptures, page 1084.

"Let Living in His Presence,
With the Mind Rid of Impurities,
Be your Disciple.
Keep the God given Form Intact,
With a Turban donned on your Head."

The following is an abstract from Reht Maryada - The Code of Sikh Conduct and Conventions. The abstract is taken from a traslation by Kulraj Singh.

"Article XVI
...
(t) For a Sikh, there is no restriction or requirement as to dress except for he must wear Kachhehra [A drawer type garment fastened by a fitted string round the waist, very often worn as an underwear] and turban. A Sikh woman may or may not tie turban."