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Kirpan: Panthic Accountability & Developing Inner Grace

The Guru, the Panth & the State

In this episode, join Jasleen Kaur, Harinder Singh, and Santbir Singh for a reflective and nuanced conversation about what this case has brought up about the Kirpan, Khalsa identity, masculinity, and our responsibility to one another.

On December 3, 2025, twenty-two year old Vickrum Singh Digwa stabbed eighteen year old Henry Nowak four times on Belmont Road in Southampton in the UK. Nowak died. Digwa, an Amritdhari Sikh and member of the Nihang order, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life with a minimum of 21 years.


In this episode, join Jasleen Kaur, Harinder Singh, and Santbir Singh for a reflective and nuanced conversation about what this case has brought up about the Kirpan, Khalsa identity, masculinity, and our responsibility to one another.

In This Podcast

Harinder Singh

Senior Fellow, Research & Policy
Senior Fellow, Research & Policy

Harinder Singh is the Senior Fellow at the Sikh Research Institute. He holds a BS in Aerospace Engineering from Wichita State University, an MS in Engineering Management from the University of Kansas, and an MPhil from Punjab University in the linguistics of the Guru Granth Sahib. 

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Jasleen Kaur

Research Associate
Research Associate

Jasleen Kaur is a Research Associate at the Sikh Research Institute. She has received a Religious Studies B.A./M.A. from the University of Virginia, focusing on South Asian Religions through the lens of literature and poetry.

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Santbir Singh

Research Associate
Research Associate

Santbir Singh is a Research Associate with SikhRI. He is currently doing his Ph.D. in Sociology at York University. His graduate research focuses on Sikh activism and the inherent relationship between Sikhi and anarchism explored through historical and contemporary Sikh movements, such as the Kisān Morcha (Farmer’s Protests) of 2020-2021. 

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