The Legal Rights Protection Forum (LRPF), a Hyderabad based legal advocacy group, has filed a formal complaint with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on August 13, alleging the “deliberate exploitation” of hundreds of minor schoolchildren in a politically motivated and religiously charged protest held on 7 August 2025 in Khammam, Telangana.
In its petition addressed to NHRC, LRPF claimed that the rally organised by the Palestine Solidarity Committee with the active participation of Communist parties (CPI, CPI(ML), CPM), Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, and local leaders from the Congress and BRS used children as “props” in graphic dramatizations linked to the Gaza conflict.
According to LRPF, nearly 10 large schools and 15 smaller institutions, allegedly managed by individuals with Communist leanings, compelled students to attend. Around 100 buses reportedly transported children to the venue. Students were made to enact plays depicting Gaza casualties and were shown disturbing props, including dolls and objects wrapped in white cloth with red stains to simulate dead bodies. LRPF said such displays caused fear, distress, and possible trauma to the children.
The LRPF argued that this conduct violated Article 39(f) of the Constitution, the Right to Education Act, the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, and guidelines issued by the Ministry of Education and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR). LRPF also cited precedents where NCPCR had condemned children’s involvement in political protests, such as during the CAA agitation, as a violation of their best interests.
LRPF also lodged a complaint with the Director General, National Cadet Corps Headquarters (NCC), citing serious violations and misuse of the NCC uniform at a politically motivated and religiously charged rally, and requested measures to safeguard both the dignity of the NCC uniform and child rights.
Among the named organisers were CPI(ML) State Secretary Potu Ranga Rao, CPI leaders Azeez Isha and Dandi Suresh, CPM leaders Nunna Nageswara Rao and Vikram, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind leaders Jainul Pasha and Mohammed Ilyas, and local political figures Shekhar Goud (Congress) and Naga Raju (BRS). LRPF further named several private school representatives it claims facilitated the children’s participation.
The petition also noted that the event defied the Bombay High Court’s 25 July 2025 observation advising Communist parties to focus on domestic issues rather than foreign conflicts.
LRPF has urged NHRC to order an immediate fact-finding probe by the Khammam District Collector, take action against implicated schools including suspension of recognition and recommend prosecution of organisers under provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
Calling for “swift intervention to safeguard the sanctity of education,” LRPF warned that such politically charged exploitation of children sets a dangerous precedent and undermines their right to a safe, neutral, and apolitical childhood.
Speaking to Organiser, AS Santhosh, Legal Rights Activist and the General Secretary of LRPF, said, “These orchestrated demonstrations imprint a lasting, biased worldview on young minds, carefully tutored by school managements to push a particular geo-political narrative. This is part of a coordinated global agenda driven by pro-Palestine forces, executed locally with the active collusion of Leftist and Islamist radical elements. By exploiting the innocence of school and college students, they are systematically indoctrinating the next generation. We demand that authorities initiate stringent criminal proceedings against such school managements and revoke their recognition to safeguard the integrity, rights, and future of our children.”
