CHICAGO
Sikh woman has sued a Chicago-area go-kart park where the employees cut her hair after it got sucked into a cart’s motor.
In court papers, Holly Hanjra said she begged employees at the Melrose Park Indoor Grand Prix to call 911 instead of cutting her hair to free her, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. She is seeking $50,000 in damages.
Both male and female Sikhs, members of the world’s fifth-largest organized religion, are banned from cutting their hair.
“Melrose caused Holly severe emotional distress because in cutting her hair, they destroyed one of her symbols of to devotion to her religious faith,” Hanjra’s lawyer said in court papers filed this week in Cook County.
The outing on Jan. 6, 2012, was Hanjra’s first experience with go-karting. The lawsuit says the facility did not give adequate warning of the risks of getting hair caught, although an introductory video posted online does advise riders to wear a “head sock.”
