The director of a school in Kanpur was on Monday booked on charges of outraging religious feelings and carrying out unlawful religious conversions after parents objected to recitation of Islamic prayers during the morning assembly, The Quint reported.
On Monday, workers of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bharatiya Janata Party held a demonstration at the Florets International School in Sisamau area, claiming that students were being compelled to recite Islamic prayers, according to PTI.
The police booked the school’s managing director Sumeet Makhija under Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code (acts intended to outrage religious feelings) and Section 5(1) of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021 (punishment for unlawful conversion).
However, the school authorities said children recite prayers of Hinduism, Sikhism and Christianity too. This practice, they said, has been going since the school was established in 2003 to teach students that all religions are equal.
After the row, Makhija said they have stopped reciting the prayers and students will only sing the national anthem now.
“With immediate effect, all four of those prayers have been stopped, and now, we will recite the national anthem,” said school principal Archana. “A religious dispute would take place if we were following just one religion, or two religions. But we are following all four religions equally.”
Assistant Commissioner of Police (Seesamau) Nishank Sharma told PTI that the district magistrate along with other senior officials were asked to investigate the matter after a tweet went viral on social media.
Makhija said the school authorities had no intention of promoting any one religion.
However, Vishwa Hindu Parishad district president Anurag Dubey said members of the group gathered at the school demanding action against the school management for compelling students to learn Islamic beliefs. He also claimed that the school premises have been purified with Ganga water.
Kanpur Additional District Magistrate Atul Kumar told reporters that a written complaint had been filed and action was taken.
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