A Sikh community leader refused admittance to an NBA game because he was wearing religious clothing

A Sikh man is gaining publicity after claiming he was rejected access to a Sacramento Kings game at Golden 1 Center due to his religious kirpan.

Mandeep Singh, a 37-year-old Sacramento community organizer for the Sikh charity group the Jakara Movement, claimed he was stopped at security earlier this week and told he couldn't enter with his kirpan, a ceremonial knife.

That was especially unexpected to him, he claimed, since he had previously worked closely with the club as an ambassador for community involvement to draw in supporters from the local Sikh population. The week before, he had been invited to a Holi-themed night at the arena.  They played a significant role in linking the Kings to the Punjabi Sikh community, he told NBC News.

Singh said that after emptying his pockets, the security officer examined him with a metal-detecting wand. Singh claimed that he was an initiated Sikh and was wearing the kirpan beneath his shirt as part of his faith when he hovered over it.

Sikhs who have been initiated must wear or carry the five items of the Sikh faith: kesh (unshorn hair), kara (steel bracelet), kanga (little wooden comb), kachera (undershorts), and a kirpan.

"I talked to him and tried to explain what it was. I was like, ‘This hasn’t been an issue before.’ I know many people that came in with a kirpan and he just was not budging ," he added. Singh requested a senior and was given the identical response.

As part of his charitable initiative, he had planned on attending the game with a coworker and a high school student. But, he said that after 10 minutes, he instructed them to continue without him since he knew he wouldn't be permitted inside.

The Kings refused to comment on the incident, instead directing NBC News to the arena's forbidden goods policy, which includes "weapons and hazardous devices of any type." The NBA refused to comment as well, referring NBC to the Kings.

He said that after being escorted to security at the employee entrance, he was informed once again that he would have to drop his kirpan to enter the stadium. "You can’t just tell a Sikh to take off his kirpan. It’s not just some piece of fashion you take off. It’s a part of who I am," he said.

Singh said he didn't anticipate the post to get so much attention, but he is glad for the community's support. "I wasn’t sure if I was going to say anything, but then I thought about the youth we work with," he explained. Singh had faced religious prejudice in the past that he had dismissed, but knowing that a student was there, he felt compelled to speak out.

A video of a Sikh student getting detained for wearing a kirpan at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte became viral online months ago. Two months later, UNCC revised its campus policy to enable Sikh students to wear their kirpan.