Students studying at a college in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district were reprimanded by the college principal and threatened by the police for chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans.
The college, Dada Patil College, is located in Ahmednagar’s Karjat and is run by Rayat Shikshan Sanstha. On September 25, a video from the college started making the rounds on the internet.
Sharing the video on social media platform ‘X’ a social activist group, Legal Rights Observatory (LRO) wrote, “Rayat Shikshan Sanstha’s Dada Patil College, Karjat- Jay Shriram slogan banned, students reprimanded, punished n PI @NagarPolice threatened to issue tadipari of students if they repeat “Jay Shriram” on campus!”
Rayat Shikshan Sanstha’s Dada Patil College, Karjat- Jay Shriram slogan banned, students reprimanded, punished n PI @NagarPolice threatened to issue tadipari of students if they repeat “Jay Shriram” on campus!
Principal Sanjay Nagarkar be immediately sacked n arrested for… pic.twitter.com/H6b7J1kj1N— Legal Rights Observatory- LRO (@LegalLro) September 25, 2023
As per the post, the police inspector at the Nagar police station threatened the students chanting slogans of tadipari.
In a video shared by LRO, the students are seen sitting inside a room and being treated like criminals. The short clip shows threats being issued to them. The legal rights body has demanded the immediate sacking and arrest of the Hinduphobic principal, Nagarkar. They also asked the Nagar Police Superintendent of Police to act swiftly against the erring police inspector.
Notably, this is not the only case where Hindu students face punishments for chanting Jai Shri Ram slogans, wearing Kalawa, sporting Tilak and others, there’s a list of such cases.
We have compiled fifteen such cases, a brief of which can be read below:
A new case was reported from Jammu & Kashmir, where a teacher has been arrested for thrashing a minor for writing ‘Jai Shri Ram’. The teacher has been identified as Farooq Ahmed. Whereas the minor was a student at the Government Higher Secondary School (Bani).
A case of how hurting someone’s religious and cultural sentiments can lead to death was reported in Jharkhand’s Dhanbad district. Where a 17-year-old Hindu girl killed herself after her teacher at Saint Xavier School insulted her in front of the whole school.
On July 20, reports of Hindu activists protesting outside a missionary school in Bokaro, Jharkhand, came out. The activists assembled outside the school on July 18, after a minor Hindu boy was thrashed by the teachers for wearing ‘Kalawa’ (a sacred thread). It is noteworthy that the accused is aided by government funds and is present almost in every state of India, ‘The Carmel Convent’ school.
Shocking reports came to light from Jharkhand’s Bokaro district after, the principal of a missionary school suspended the entire class on chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans. Members of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) demanded action. However, the principal said, the action was taken against the indiscipline by the students, not for the slogan.
On July 25, a Hindu student was beaten up by Muslim classmates for putting Tilak on his forehead in the Alwar district of Rajasthan. The incident occurred in a government-run school.
A poster of Hanumaji was torn by the school authorities at a Missionary school. The incident took place on July 27 at the Our Lady of Pillar Convent School, Gangana Road, Pal village in Jodhpur.
A video went viral from Madhya Pradesh’s Rajgarh district, where students were scolded by the principal for chanting the Gayatri Mantra during the prayers. The school is a government CM Rise school. Following the video, the Department of Education has initiated a probe into the matter.
On August 24 this year, a school teacher from Tamil Nadu named Udaya Lakshmi shared a Facebook post (now deleted) wherein she boasted about forcefully removing the sacred thread (Kalawas) from the wrists of Hindu students.
Two instructors physically attacked a Hindu student on August 26 at the Ujra Government School in the Chhatarpur region of Madhya Pradesh because the student was sporting a kada (sacred bracelet).
On August 27, a Hindu student was harassed by his class teacher for writing the sacred chant of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ on the blackboard at a community school in the Ujjain district of Madhya Pradesh.
Govt. school teacher Nisar Ahmed was suspended for physically assaulting a minor girl student in Rajouri, J&K. The family of the minor said that the thrashing was in relation to the student turning up at school with a tilak on her forehead, put after pooja at home amid the ongoing Navratri festival.
A case of religious discrimination against a Hindu student named Pawan Sen at the hands of his Muslim teacher Nishat Begum has been reported from the Raisen district of Madhya Pradesh. The teacher at Government New Boys Secondary School, Garatganj allegedly used some Muslim boys from outside the school to beat up the victim, an 8th standard student. His ‘crime’ was that even after objections from the teacher, he used to go to school wearing a Tilak.
In a shocking incident from the Betul district of Madhya Pradesh, a government teacher removed Kalawa from the hands of Hindu students, saying they must not visit the temple and should not offer prayers. He justified this act by saying that he promotes equal education without any religious bias.
The details of other cases can be read in this report by Organiser.
