Why didn’t you go to Pakistan? Govt school teacher in Delhi hurls ‘communal slurs’ in class, booked

A lady teacher of a government school in east Delhi’s Gandhi Nagar has been accused by parents of students for allegedly using pejorative remarks and religious sensitive language in the class.

The remarks were allegedly made by the teacher last week.

A report by NDTV quoted Hema Gulati, mother of one the students, stating in her complaint that the teacher allegedly made the derogatory remarks on the Kaaba – the sacred stone building at Mecca – and the Quran.

What did the teacher say?

“During Partition, you did not go to Pakistan. You stayed in India. You have no contribution in India’s freedom,” a complaint quoted the teacher as saying.

Parents demand removal of the teacher

Accusing the woman teacher of the government school in Delhi for “using religious words”, parents of the pupils have demanded her removal.

“Two of my children study in this school - one in Class 7 and the other in Class 4. If the teacher goes unpunished, other teachers will get emboldened and they will speak things like ‘hamare deen ke nahi hain,’” news agency ANI quoted a parent, Kausar as saying.

“They should be told to just teach and not speak on things about which they have no knowledge… There is no use of a teacher who creates differences among students. We demand that the teacher be removed from the school, she should not teach in any school because she will do the same wherever she goes,” Kausar added.

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Police assures legal action against the teacher

Delhi Police has assured legal action against the teacher and said a case with appropriate sections will be registered against her.

“We received a complaint about a school teacher using some religious words before students. We have taken cognisance of the matter. Our Juvenile Welfare Officer, along with counsellors, is counselling,” said DCP Shahdara Rohit Meena.

#WATCH | DCP Shahdara Rohit Meena says, "We received a complaint about a school teacher using some religious words before students. We have taken cognisance of the matter. Our Juvenile Welfare Officer, along with counsellors, is counselling. Legal action will be taken. There are… pic.twitter.com/SisEN1fZ65

— ANI (@ANI) August 29, 2023

The senior police officer further said that there were two-three such students, “so we are counselling them all”.

Local MLA and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Anil Kumar Bajpai has slammed the teacher for her alleged religious slurs.

“This is absolutely wrong. The responsibility of a teacher is to give good education to the children. The teacher should not pass derogatory comments against any religious or holy place. Such people should be arrested,” news agency PTI quoted Bajpai as saying.

The incident in government school in Delhi comes close on the heels of a similar incident in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar where a viral video showed a school teacher asking her students to slap a Muslim boy and also making objectionable remarks against the community.

The Muslim child was allegedly being punished for not doing his homework - with UP school teacher Tripta Tyagi asserting that the video had been shot by the student’s uncle and did not reveal the incident in its entirety.

She insisted that there was no ‘communal angle’ to her actions amid furor over a recent student-slapping incident.

Tyagi explained that she had been forced to ask the other students as she was handicapped and, therefore, not able to stand up and reach the student who had not done his assignment.

With inputs from agencies