Hijab not forced: Hindu students after school demolished for 'conversion'
After the government bulldozed Ganga Jamna School in Madhya Pradesh's Damoh alleging forced religious conversion, the school's Hindu students and their parents said the allegations by hardline Hindu groups about the students being forced to wear hijab were false. Rupali Sahu, one of the school's students who topped the Class 10 board exams, said scarves were part of the dress code but weren't compulsory.
Why does this story matter?
The controversy erupted after 61 out of 65 students in Class 10 of Ganga Jamna School topped the board exams and a billboard celebrating their success showed Hindu students in headscarves. Some Hindu outfits accused the English-medium government-recognized school for low-income households of promoting "Islamism." Subsequently, the government de-recognized the school, arrested its principal and two others, and razed the school in a fortnight.
Truth went unreported: School's principal
A report by Madhya Pradesh-based journalist Kashif Kakvi for Article 14 showed the school's principal, Afsha Sheikh, saying that the media furor mentally disturbed the school's staff, but the truth remained unreported. Lauding the school and the students' achievement, Ganga Jamna Trust member Shiv Dayal Dubey accused the elements causing the stir of trying to spread religious divide in the society.
Didn't become Hindu after Saraswati Puja: Parents
Meanwhile, the parents of some students said that every school has a different culture. One of the Muslim parents, Meena Naaz, said when she was a student, she worshipped Goddess Saraswati and visited Hindu temples on school trips, but that didn't make her Hindu.
School's tuition fee was less than half of others: Parents
Investigators didn't find any wrongdoing
On May 29, Damoh superintendent of police (SP) ordered a probe into the matter. The investigators, a police officer and district education officer (DEO) SK Mishra gave a clean chit to the school. In protest, some workers of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) threw ink on Mishra, following which education minister Inder Singh Parmar ordered Mishra's removal, accusing him of favoring the school.
Officers from 12 departments raided school
On June 2, the school's education department suspended the school's affiliation, citing a lack of infrastructure. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan then ordered an in-depth investigation, following which, officers from departments such as revenue, fertilizer, income tax, GST, forest, labor, and electricity, among others, raided the school.
Police erected wall to block school's gate citing encroachment
Administration expelled 3 agitators from district
On June 9, the Damoh administration issued a notice expelling Hindu Yuva Vahini's Krishna Tiwari, and Bajrang Dal's Ashish Sharma and Anurag Yadav from the district for creating unrest. The three men played a prominent role in the agitation against the school. On June 21, many students' parents urged the collector to reopen the school but it was eventually demolished.
