MP: Administration issues Out-of-Bounds notice to Hindu activists protesting against ‘Ganga Jamna School’ in Damoh

Since last month a private school in Madhya Pradesh’s Damoh is making headlines in the national bulletins itself. The matter was highlighted after posters of Hindu and Jain girls wearing hijabs went viral. Followed by a video clip of students singing controversial writer Allama Iqbal’s ‘Lab pe aai hai dua..’ and ‘Al-Fatiha’ as morning prayers.

The incident was highlighted by the local Hindu activists including members of Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Hindu Jagran Manch. Notably, after rows of protests and rallies, the district administration took stringent action against these Hindu activists.

As per the information collected by Organiser, one of the district heads of Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal Anurag alias Chuttu Yadav has been sent out of bounds by the administration. The grounds for this action are past cases that are either under trial or have been terminated by the court of Madhya Pradesh.

Yadav is not alone to face the heat of the administration other members of different Hindu organisations are facing the same action. These activists include Krishna Tiwari district head of Hindu Jagran Manch and an active member of Bhartiya Janata Party, Ashish Sharma.

All these men have been sent out of bounds for protesting and raising their voices against the administration in the matter of religious conversion both in the cases of Ganga Jamna School controversy and the Adharshila controversy.

It is pertinent to mention that the local Congress Party MLA (Member of Legislative Assembly), Ajay Tondon, the District Magistrate Mayank Agarwal and othe Town Inspectors have a special role in this case.

Readers may go through this report by Organiser where following the massive outrage on social media the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and the Chief Minister took action against the school. Notably, the DM and the District Education Officer (DEO) gave a clean chit to the school stating they did not find any wrong in their working system and their religious instructions for the students.

To unearth the truth behind the admissions of Hindu students in such a school where Arabic and Urdu is considered as first language, Organiser sent a correspondent on the ground. Readers may go through the ground report here. 

The district head, Bajrang Dal, Chuttu Yadav while speaking with Organiser on June 22 said, “The action by the administration is in response to the widespread protest and united Hindu Samaj against the Islamists in the city. We have been active in tracking cow smugglers, and religious conversion rackets be it Islamic or Missionary and that is why we are facing the heat”

Sharing the court notice with Organiser, Yadav said, half of the cases mentioned in the notice by the administration are either terminated by the court or he has been relieved of the charges.

The notice says Yadav is supposed to send out of bound by June 26 if he fails to present before the court for cases that include 6 criminal offence and one prohibitory measure. These cases and their details are, FIR (number–845/2017) in which Yadav has been set free by the court. Next is FIR (number–548/2018) in which the trial is going on, and then comes FIR (number–214/2019) in which he has been set free, as told by Yadav. Next is FIR (number–09/2021) and FIR (number–921/20222) all these cases are registered under sections 323 or 506 and 34 of the IPC.

Other than Yadav the members of HJM and BJP have been sent prohibitory notices under section 107/116 of the CrPC.

Ashish Sharma while speaking with the media said, “The administration is working under some kind of pressure to curb the voice of Hindus, we do not have any criminal record then why such actions have been taken against us? We are being punished just because we raised our voice against the Ganga Jamna Hijab controversy and Ajay Lal missionary conversion controversy,”

He added, “We are the ones who raise our voice against injustice on Hindus, if the administration will take such absurd actions who will come forward? We are not criminals and if the administration has decided to take baseless action against us, they should better release our criminal record, if there is any”.

Yadav said, the main accused in the Ganga Jamna controversy is absconding, and his brother who is also named in the FIR is running his coaching centre peacefully in the city. Instead of tracking these culprits who are involved in mass religious conversion and grooming activities, the police and administration is taking action against us, this is highly unsatisfactory.

Notably, the founder of the school Haji Idris and his family are still absconding, the principal, maths teacher and a peon are arrested in the matter.

A First Information Report (number–498/2023) was registered at the Damoh Kotwali on June 7 against the principal Afsa Shiekh daughter of Sahil Shrivastava, maths teacher Anas Ahtar and peon Rustum. All these accused have been booked under IPC sections 295-A (outraging religious feelings), 506 (criminal intimidation), sections 75 and 87 of the Juvenile Justice Act and sections 3 / 5 of the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act. On June 10, all three accused were sent to jail.

On June 13 the state Home Minister Dr Narottam Mishra while speaking with the media said, ‘There can be bulldozer action against the illegal construction at the Ganga Jamna School’. The same day the Municipal Corporation teams arrived at the school with a bulldozer and removed the illegally constructed structure on the third floor. Notably, the same team when arrived in the morning was sent back following a widespread protest by the Muslim community.

Notably, the next day the administration did demolish some illegal construction in the school but the culprits are still walking free.

In the matter of Ajay Lal and Adharshila’s shelter home, a minor girl went missing who was sent to become a nun, also Hindu students were forced to recite Bible and offer prayers in the church.

Damoh has become the centre of controversy since the Ganga Jamna poster was first dropped.

The school, Ganga–Jamna Higher Secondary School is an English medium private institution located in ward number–4 of the Futera area in Damoh district.

Organiser has been covering this case from day one and we have made sure the administration takes action in this case. We brought the prayers and textbooks to everyone’s notice. We believe this is the first leg of the action against the perpetrators, who were using the young minds to meet their nefarious agenda. The administrator Haji Idris is a well-connected person both financially and politically, he is going to be a big fish for this net.