OTTAWA (TIP):  A Sikh man was asked to remove his turban in a club in Canada by a woman, who also threatened to “rip” off the headgear and heckled him with racist remarks, according to a media report.

Jaswinder Singh Dhaliwal was playing pool with friends at the Royal Canadian Legion, a Canadian ex-service organization that includes people who have served in military, when the management approached the group and asked him to remove his patka as it was its policy to remove any headgear out of respect for the veterans, CBC News reported.

However, religious garments are exempted from the legion’s policy banning head coverings. The incident took place on January 17^th at Tignish town in Canada’s Prince Edward Island.

A video of the incident shows a woman threatening to “rip” off the head covering in response to being filmed and a patron at the bar making an obscene gesture while saying the garment must be removed because “it is the law”.

Legion president Stephen Gallant later said that he plans to apologize to those involved as religious garments are exempted from their policy, the report said.

Mr Gallant said there was some confusion over whether the headdress was a religious garment, and the membership has met to clarify the branch’s policy regarding head coverings.