3 min readNew DelhiAug 30, 2023 09:09 AM IST
First published on: Aug 30, 2023 at 02:50 AM IST
The Delhi Police on Tuesday booked a teacher at a government school in East Delhi for allegedly making communal remarks against students of a minority community in her class last week.
The parents of the students held a protest outside the campus of the school, stating that the teacher – police identified her as Hema Gulati – had passed objectionable remarks and hurled communal slurs while the students were celebrating the landing of Chandrayaan-3 on August 23.
Some of the students filed the FIR when police approached them after the video of the protest on Monday surfaced online.
The teacher has not yet been arrested.
The Delhi government said an inquiry committee has been set up to look into the matter, adding guidelines are being issued to all teachers and principals to ensure that there is no discrimination along the lines of religion, caste, region or language.
The father of one of the students said his son and some of his classmates felt humiliated because of what the teacher said last week. “I spoke to my friends whose wards study in the same school and they told me that the same thing happened to their sons too,” he said.
The families alleged they went to the school on Friday to lodge a protest but were made to wait before being asked to leave the premises.
A family member of another student said, “The things said in the class are horrible and make no sense. She targeted the students… I haven’t heard of anything like this before.”
Demanding that the teacher be suspended, the student’s family member said, “We tried to talk to her but she told us that she didn’t mean what she said.”
A woman, whose child was among the complainants, said the teacher had scolded the boys earlier as well but had never said anything about anyone’s religion or class. “She is now spewing hatred in her classroom… The children were left humiliated… She should be punished,” she said.
Parents of the students approached the Delhi Police and Directorate of Education to lodge a complaint in the matter.
The FIR has been lodged against Gulati under IPC sections pertaining to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, among others.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahdara) Rohit Meena said, “We received a complaint about a school teacher, Hema Gulati, using some religious words against the students. We have taken cognizance of the matter.”
“We spoke to the juvenile welfare officer, along with counsellors, to take appropriate legal action. A case has been registered against the teacher. Two or three such students are part of the complaint, and all of them will undergo counselling,” the DCP said.
According to the FIR lodged in the case, “She (the teacher) created differences in the name of religion in the minds of all the students.”
The father of one of the students said his son and some of his classmates felt humiliated because of what the teacher said last week. “I spoke to my friends whose wards study in the same school and they told me that the same thing happened to their sons too,” he said.
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