UK Hindu family takes legal action after school objects to boy wearing tilak

London The parents of a nine-year-old British Hindu boy, who was withdrawn from his primary school in London after it objected to him wearing a tilak on his forehead, have initiated legal proceedings in the UK High Court. The boy, who belongs to the Swaminarayan faith tradition, had attended Vicar’s Green Primary School in west London since 2021 and worn his religious marking, known as the Tilak-Chandlo, without difficulty.

However, the school objected to the practice in late 2025, triggering a dispute that eventually led his parents to withdraw him from the school and pursue legal action. “As parents, it has been heartbreaking to see our son go through this simply because he wanted to practise his faith,” the parents said in a statement released by their legal team this weekend.

“He had worn his Tilak-Chandlo to school for years without difficulty, and we never imagined that something so sacred to our family would become a source of distress,” they said. “Our son was just an ordinary little boy who enjoyed learning and spending time with his friends.