By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent,
Alappuzha: There is apparent evidence of the violation of fundamental rights in the head-scarf row, says the report submitted by the Revenue Divisional Officer to the district Collector of Alappuzha, according to reports. There are also reports that the Kerala state government has ordered to immediately reinstate the Muslim girl who was forcefully thrown out of school for wearing a head scarf. The Deputy Director of Education in the district yesterday submitted an interim report on the matter to the Director of Public Instruction APM Hanish. The DPI has reportedly ordered the DDE for a detailed probe into the incident. Following media reports, the State Human Rights Commission has registered a case suo moto and ordered the Principal Secretary of General Education to submit a report on the incident within 15 days.
Nabala, who has just advanced to class 10, was reported to have been forcefully given the Transfer Certificate by the authorities of the Believers Church English Medium School in Alappuzha last month for wearing the head-scarf. Following the incident, her parents had filed a complaint with the district Collector P Venugopal. The school has reportedly got ready to take the girl back but the parents are afraid if she would have to pay for all the issues.
The RDO submitted his report on the incident to the District Collector after talking to the student, her parents and the school authorities. The Collector will reportedly hold a meeting of both parties tomorrow before taking any action on the matter. According to media reports, the interim report of the DDE submitted to the DPI accuses the school authorities of poor cooperation with the inquiry. It also raised dissatisfaction on the defense put forward by the school.
Reports suggest that the reason for throwing Nabala out of the school as given in the TC was that ‘Maftha (head-scarf) is not allowed in this school’. Nabala’s father Naseer Musliyar accused in a press conference that the authorities were not ready to take her in even though he pleaded them to let her study there in class 10 also. They were not ready even to talk to the parents initially. Transfer was given to the Government School on Mannanchery but Naseer said it would be difficult for his daughter to change from the CBSE syllabus. A CBSE school in Mannanchery was hesitant to admit Nabala due to all the issues, Naseer said. Nabala has studied in the school from LKG onwards and has been wearing the head-scarf also, but the authorities found it a problem only when she reached class 10. The school was formerly run by the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam but later handed over to the Believers Church, after which many issues of violation of religious freedom reportedly began to prop up.
Meanwhile several organizations and political parties have condemned the violation of the individual and religious rights of the girl. The Girls Islamic Organisation, the Students Islamic Organisation, the Popular Front of India, the Students Federation of India, the Kerala Students Union and the Solidarity Youth Movement organized protest marches to the school. Alappuzha area committee of the Janatha Dal demanded that the school authorities be brought before law. The Muslim League district secretariat demanded the government to conduct an inquiry into the incident as well as to take measures to ensure that the girl gets good education. The state president of the Mahila Morcha Ms Shobha Surendran condemned the act of the school as anti-democratic. Kerala Congress (M) vice-chairman PC George said that case should be registered against the school if the media reports were right.
However, the school authorities have said that there was no restriction on head-scarf in the school and that the TC was given following the request of the girl’s parents. (There are also reports that the girl’s father had requested the principal to mention the wearing of head-scarf as the reason for transfer in the TC as that was the reason given by the school authorities for throwing her out of school.) The Believers Church Education Officer Philippose Poulose has said in a statement that more than 150 Muslim students were studying in the school and that majority was wearing the scarf also. He also requested that a senior police officer not below the rank of the IG conduct a probe into the incident.