The viral poster which sparked controversy from Ganga Jamna HS school, Damoh showing Hindu and Jain girls wearing Hijab (Image: Twitter)
On May 31, 2023, a poster from a private school named ‘Ganga Jamna Higher Secondary School’ went viral on social media from the Damoh district of Madhya Pradesh. The controversial fact about the poster was that Hindu and Jain girls were wearing hijabs. This poster and some videos unearthed by Organiser led to massive outrage, which caught the attention of the state’s Home Minister as well as the Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Subsequently, the registration of the school was suspended, followed by the NCPCR’s visit to the campus. Additionally, an FIR was lodged against the principal, a teacher, and a peon of the school.
On August 23, the Madhya Pradesh High Court, upheld the ban on hijab as a dress code in the school while granting bail to the accused. The court also ruled that the school administration cannot force any student to recite Islamic prayer or read Islamic texts.
The matter came to light after the Chairperson of the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), Priyank Kanoongo, took cognizance of the matter and issued a notice (number– DD6270) demanding an action report from the district collector and the police.
Notably, the poster mounted outside the school featuring meritorious students had as many as 18 students out of these 18, three were male and the rest female. Among the 15 girls, four belonged to the Hindu and Jain communities. These students were wearing hijabs and hence the poster made it to the national headlines.
The same week Organiser found the YouTube channel of the school where students were chanting religious prayers like “Lab pe aai hai dua” in traditional Muslim attire. We also checked the Facebook account of the school, where the female students were seen wearing hijabs mandatorily, even during sports events. Those who do not sport Hijab were seen covering their heads with a dupatta.
Notably, the members of the Madhya Pradesh SCPCR made a visit to the school on June 2 and found that Islamic teachings were imparted to the students. These students recited “Surah-Al-Fatiha” as their morning prayers. The walls of the school had Islamic teachings inscribed on it, some of them reversed the laws of science.
After the visit, one of the members of the MP SCPCR, Megha Pawar spoke with Organiser, she said, that Ayats from Quran were written over the blackboard, students were asked to recite Islamic prayers, were forced to wear Hijab, and remove Kalwa and Tilak. Students having Hindu names had Hijab pictures in the school register. The Kindergarten students had books with questions like, Who are you–I am a Muslim, What is your religion–My religion is Islam, Where is Allah–Allah is everywhere and many such questions.
The same day of the visit the NCPCR issued a notice (number: LC6535) to the DM and SP Damoh, demanding the institution of an FIR against the school authorities. 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 11.
Chouhan took cognizance of the matter and said will never allow things like this in Madhya Pradesh ever. Amid rising controversy, the administrator of the school Haji Mohammad Idris, wrote a letter to the Chief Minister of the state Shivraj Singh Chouhan, stating the scarf was never mandatory as a school uniform it was always optional, however, from now onwards, the headscarf or Hijab will not be a part of the school uniform for any girl studying at the school.
It was also revealed that, the logo of the school and other enterprises owned by the Ganga Jamna group uses a symbol in which half of India is disappeared by tampering the map of India. ‘This type of tampering with the map of our sovereign nation India by the educational institution will not be tolerated at all’ said NCPCR head. He added, the accused must be booked under the sedition law”.
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.
Organiser did a ground report on this case and met the Hindu students studying in the school and their parents. The students shared how their Tilak and Kalawa were removed at the school gate. The female students had to wear Hijab compulsorily, they were asked to greet with “Assam Walikum”, the diary has Islamic prayers written in it. The students were taught Arabic and Urdu as compulsory subjects and more.
The parents of the students were worried as the registration of the school was cancelled in mid-session and they had paid all fee, their children had nowhere to go. When this correspondent asked them, why they had no problem with the dress code, they said, “The school was near their home, it is the only English medium school in the area and the school was not expensive”.
Notably, the NCPCR had taken the responsibility of relocating the students, as many as 1200 students studied in the school and out of these 350 were Hindus. Some of these students were relocated to government schools whereas some NGOs were also in play to shift the students to better private schools.
On August 23, the bench of Justice Dinesh Paliwal heard the bail plea of the accused, Afsa Sheikh, principal of the school. The court granted her bail but laid down certain conditions to run the school. Here’s what the order (MISC number–30656/2023) says;
(i) Applicants shall not repeat the commission of the offence in which they are being released on bail.
(ii) They shall not prevent students of other religion from wearing the essentials of their own religion as such wearing a sacred thread (kalawa) and putting tilak on the forehead.
(iii) They shall not compel the students of other religion to read/study any material or language which has not been prescribed or approved by the Madhya Pradesh Education Board.
(iv) They shall not provide any religious education or material belonging to Islam faith to the students of other religion and shall impart only modern eduction as contained in Section 53(1)(iii) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.
(v) Girl students of other religion i.e. Hindu and Jain etc. shall not be compelled to wear head scarf (Hijaab) anywhere in the school premises or in the class rooms.
Readers may note that the accused had filed the plea on the grounds that they were not responsible for propagating hijab or Islamic literature as they did it on the directions of Managing Director Mohammed Idrish and other members of the school management.
While granting the bail Justice Paliwal mentioned, “charge sheet has been filed against the applicants who are principal, teachers and peon. The main allegations are against the management of the school. Trial of the case will take considerable time”.
It is noteworthy that, Back in September 2021, the members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad handed over a memorandum to the DM. They alleged that the students at Ganga Jamna school are forced to take the Madarsa kind of education. The female students at the school were forced to wear Hijab whereas the boys were forced to offer Namaz. Inside the classroom, Quran Ayat’s were written in Arabic language and many such points were raised in the memorandum. However, no action has been taken against the administration to date.
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