By Pratyush Deep / News Laundry
A Delhi government school teacher has been booked for allegedly passing communal slurs in a classroom in Delhi, days after another teacher was caught on camera ordering a classroom to slap a Muslim student in Uttar Pradesh.
After a complaint from families of four Muslim students, an FIR has been lodged against Hema Gulati at the Gandhi Nagar police station under IPC sections 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion), 295 A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 298 (uttering words, etc, with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings).
The four students of class 9 alleged that Gulati, while talking about India’s Chandrayaan-3 success, insulted Muslim students last Wednesday.
“The Quran is incorrect”; “you have no mercy in your heart since you kill and eat innocent animals”; “why didn’t you go to Pakistan during partition”, and “there has been no contribution of your community in the freedom struggle”, the teacher allegedly said, according to the students.
Newslaundry could not reach the principal and Gulati for comment. Efforts to contact them at the school were thwarted by the security guard at the gate.
Police, meanwhile, refused to comment, maintaining that the investigation is underway. The statements of the four students have been recorded, their families said, adding that the police refused to share a copy of the FIR.
Shahdara DCP Rohit Meena earlier told news agency ANI that it is a government school, and a juvenile welfare officer, along with counsellors, is providing support and counselling to the affected students.
The sister of one of the students told Newslaundry that the families approached the police after a meeting with the school authorities failed to resolve their concerns last week.
This story was originally published in newslaundry.com. Read the full story here
