‘Forced cutting’ of Sikh boy’s hair sparks outrage

A five-year-old Sikh boy has been left traumatised after alleged 'bullies' cut his hair with scissors while at school, his parents have said.

The alleged incident took place last Friday (21) on the premises of Alexandra McLeod Primary School in Abbey Wood, southeast London.

Uncut hair is among the key tenets of the Sikh faith.

In a post on social media, the parents of the child said they were “really scared to send him back” to school.

"My son is only 5 years old, a Sikh boy and I never cut his hair, but someone in school today cut his hair with scissors and my boy is really upset and saying 'I am not going to school now',” the parents said in a post on Facebook.

The Sikh Federation UK said on Twitter that it was "totally unacceptable & devastating" for the child's "sacred unshorn hair" to be cut by "another pupil."

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), Amritsar, India has also expressed outrage over the incident saying “it is a gross violation of religious rights of the Sikhs, which can never be tolerated,” a local news outlet reported.

Meanwhile, the school said it was aware of the incident, that it had occurred when "most of the staff had left", and that the matter will be investigated.