Agra: A private school principal in Uttar Pradesh’s Amroha has been accused of mistreating a seven-year-old Muslim student on the grounds that the child ‘frequently brought non-vegetarian meals to school’ and made insensitive remarks about Hindu temples.
A video purportedly showing a heated argument between the principal and the child’s mother is now viral on social media.
According to the mother of the child, the principal allegedly accused the child of vandalising a temple within the school premises and labelled him a “terrorist”. The mother further alleged that the child was locked in a storeroom at school and that the principal allegedly recorded a video asking him if he intended to blow up the premises.
Refuting the principal’s accusations that her son brought non-vegetarian food to school, the mother claimed instead that the child dislikes non-vegetarian food and that other students bullied her son over his religious identity.
Following the viral video, a local committee of Muslims wrote to the sub-divisional magistrate, demanding an impartial investigation into the incident, the principal’s immediate arrest and suspension of the school’s accreditation. The letter, also addressed to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, urged him to ensure swift and strict action.
ThePrint reached the principal and school management for comment but their phones were switched off.
Sources in the district administration said the school’s owner, Mangal Singh Saini, is a former state minister and that the school is run by his son and daughter-in-law.
Meanwhile, the seven-year-old child’s mother said all three of her children attend the same school and her middle one had been complaining of bullying by classmates. But the teachers and principal took no action. She claimed she received a call from the school on 2 September, asking her to meet the principal the following day.
She went immediately but neither the principal nor the teacher were available.
According to her, her son approached her before the end of the school day, visibly shaken and refusing to return to class. The child said the principal had locked him alone in a storeroom along with his school bag after the school assembly and did not allow him to attend his classes.
The mother then called the principal who told her: “Come tomorrow, and the police will speak with you.”
She returned to the school the following day with her son who was too frightened to enter his classroom. The principal reportedly denied summoning her and then asked her son whether he intended to blow up the school.
In a viral video of the incident, the principal is heard saying that he will not allow kids with such ’sanskar’ in his school. “Your child says that he wants to convert everyone to Islam by making them eat non-vegetarian food,” the principal is seen telling the mother in the video.
However, principal Avnish Kumar Sharma later refuted the claims, asserting that the entire incident is documented on the school’s CCTV cameras. He denied that the child was held captive, claiming instead that the child had been seated in another room with a teacher.
Furthermore, the school clarified that the child’s name had not been removed from the rolls, as initially alleged by the mother. In a further development, the school management released a video statement in which several students accused the child of making derogatory comments about a particular religion.
Meanwhile, the District Inspector of Schools (DIOS), Vishnu Pratap Singh, announced that a three-member committee comprising principals of three different state-run schools had been formed to probe the matter.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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