On Friday (7th September), tensions broke out in Rajasthan’s Kota district after a government school principal belonging to the Muslim community deleted the Ganesh Chaturthi greeting messages from the school’s common WhatsApp group twice. Subsequently, Hindu teachers and parents who are also part of the same group objected to his actions. Along with villagers, they staged a protest outside the school and demanded the removal of the school principal, who was later arrested by police.
The Police have identified the school Principal as Muhammed Shafiq. Station House officer of Kota’s Bapawar Kala Police Station, Uttam Singh said that he was arrested for disturbing social harmony.
The case pertains to Laturi village in Kota district. According to the officials, the accused Principal, Shafiq, deleted two Ganesh Chaturthi messages within two hours, which hurt the sentiments of the Hindu members. According to the Police, many schools have a WhatsApp groups of development committees which include the school principal, teachers, block education officers, a few guardians, and other officials. The groups are formed to discuss and communicate important decisions.
On Friday, some members who belong to the Hindu faith sent Ganesh Chaturthi greeting messages. When Shafiq deleted the first greeting message, the Hindu members initially ignored it, considering that it could be a mistake. But when Shafiq deleted Ganesh Chaturthi’s message for the second time within a few hours, it hurt and angered the members of the Hindu community.
Soon tensions escalated when a large number of villagers, and members of Hindu organisations reached the school and started protesting against the accused teacher.
Police immediately reached the spot and deployed an additional force to maintain the law-and-order situation. A few WhatsApp group members and other villagers also lodged an FIR against the accused principal, Shafiq.
Official Police response
Explaining the entire matter, SHO Uttam Singh said, “The principal belongs to a minority community. On Friday, he deleted two posts on a WhatsApp group of the Block School Development Committee that enraged the other members including a few teachers of the Hindu community. They started staging a protest in front of the school. We have arrested the principal at night for attempting to disturb the social harmony.”
The SHO said, “The committee, sometimes, also maintains a WhatsApp group to discuss the necessary decisions. On the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi, the members were sharing posts expressing good wishes to each other in that group on Friday morning. However, the principal, Muhammed Shafiq, deleted one post which was primarily ignored by the members. The action was repeated with another post about two hours later when the members got angry and started protesting against the principal.”
“We have arrested the principal late at night. He said the move happened mistakenly which seems a bit unusual as he did it twice within two hours. We are questioning him. Further investigation is underway. The peace was reinstated in the area by Saturday morning, ” Singh further added.
The Police lodged a case under Section 196 (disturbing communal harmony) of the BNS.
