Students 'forced to offer namaz' at a school in Haryana
Two boys at a school in Haryana's Mewat were allegedly forced to recite the Quran and adopt Islam. This was revealed in their application asking for a transfer and school leaving certificate. An enquiry was set up in the matter which revealed that along with the teachers, some fellow students also forced them to offer namaz with them.
The incident of two boys being allegedly forced to recite the Quran and espouse the cause of Islam at a Mewat school came to light after they applied for a School Leaving Certificate and a transfer.?On the face of it, it was a simple transfer application. But the devil was in the details. The deputy commissioner immediately sent a team to the school and appropriate action was taken,? Shamim Ahmed, project officer of the Mewat Development Agency (under which the  school is run), and one of the members of the inquiry committee who would look into the issue, said.Officials said they further got to know later that not only the teachers, against whom action was taken on Friday, but also some students of school in Madhi village, allegedly forced the students to offer namaz with them, and follow Islam.?When I complained on July 22, I didn?t name any of the teachers. I said that the boys were being forced and threatened in the school, and more particularly in the hostel,? said 40-year-old Pushpa Bhardwaj, mother of Sagar Bhardwaj, a class 9 student.Only three out of the 207 students in the school were Hindus - two of whom are cousins Sagar Bharadwaj and Kaushal Vashisht (class 8 student).Kaushal?s father, Mohan Sharma, added that the only solution he could think of was getting his son out of the school.?Kaushal and Sagar had joined the school from this session and wanted to stay at the hostel, so we let them,? Kaushal?s father said.The third Hindu student, a Class 9 student, filed a complaint to the school principal on Saturday, a day after the district officials inspected the school.Sagar?s mother said that the complaint of the third student, mentions even more grievous charges. ?I am troubled by the teachers and the students who force us (Hindu students) to offer namaz, follow Islamic norms. The teachers often say bad things about other religions,? the complaint reads.