The Hayathnagar police booked a teacher and the principal of Zee School in Hayathnagar for asking two students to remove their headscarves when on school premises.
According the complaint, received from a Class 10 student on Friday night, she and her friend, a Class IV student, wore headscarves on June 22 in adherence to their religious beliefs but the staff asked them to remove the headscarves.
“Around noon, one of the schoolteachers asked them about their scarves and if they had the principal’s permission to wear them. They were then asked to take them off, citing that they did not have permission to wear them in the school, to which the students said that it was their right,” said Inspector M. Venkateswarlu.
However, during the lunch break on Friday, principal Poorna Devi Srivastava approached the girls on the campus and told them that the school is a secular place and that everyone is equal. She asked them to take the scarves off and further informed them that Muslim teachers also remove burkha when they enter the school premises and that they should also follow them, added the inspector.
When the girl informed her mother, who is a magistrate, a complaint was lodged with the police to take action against the faculty members.
“Based on the complaint, a case was registered under sections 295 (insulting religion), 298 (deliberately intending to hurt religious feelings) and 352 (assault) of the IPC and under sections of the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act,” said the police.
