A para-teacher was terminated and arrested in Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly for allegedly allowing Urdu prayer in a school run by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). According to the police, a complaint was lodged by the VHP members against the teacher for hurting their religious sentiments. The matter came to light after a video in which the students of a government-run school in Faridpur can be heard singing “Mere Allah burai se bachana mujhko, nek jo rah ho us rah pe chalana mujhko… Lab pe aati he dua ban ke tamanna meri…” went viral on several social media platforms.
This prompted some members of the local unit of the VHP to complain against Waziruddin for hurting the religious sentiments of the people in a Hindu-dominated area, said police.
“Shiksha mitra Waziruddin was arrested on Saturday for hurting the religious sentiments of the Hindus. He has been sent to jail,” Superintendent of Police (Rural) Rajkumar Agarwal said.
VHP accuses teacher of religious conversion
Meanwhile, the Basic Education Officer of the district Vinay Kumar said that Waziruddin has also been dismissed from service and added that the school’s principal, Nahid Siddiqui, was suspended earlier. Although the VHP accused the teacher of hurting the sentiments of the Hindus, the prayer was later found to have been written by famous Urdu poet Allama Iqbal, who is also known to have written ‘Sare Jahan Se Achcha, Hindustan Hamara.’ Agarwal had on Friday said that a video of the alleged incident had been sent for forensic examination. The VHP also alleged that the accused were trying to convert the students, he said.
Not the first time in UP
It is worth mentioning this was not the first time when the VHP protested against madrasa-type prayers in school assemblies. Earlier in July this year, the director of a school in Kanpur was booked on charges of outraging religious feelings and carrying out unlawful religious conversions in schools. This came after parents objected to the recitation of Islamic prayers during the morning assembly. However, the school authorities said the students have been reciting prayers of Hinduism, Sikhism and Christianity too ever since the institute was established in 2003. It cited the recitation of prayers necessary to teach students that all religions are equal.
(With inputs from PTI)
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