Madhya Pradesh school hijab row: HC grants bail to principal, teacher, guard

The court granted bail taking note that the “main allegations are against management of the school and that the trial of the case will take considerable time”. The accused had to furnish a personal bond of Rs 50,000 each with one surety of the like amount.

The court, as part of bail conditions of the accused, stipulated that they should “not compel the students of other religion to read/study any material or language which has not been prescribed or approved by the Madhya Pradesh Education Board”.

Furthermore, the accused have been told “they shall not provide any religious education or material belonging to Islam faith to the students of other religions and shall impart only modern education as contained in Section 53(1)(iii) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.”

The exterior of the Ganga Jamuna Higher Secondary School in Damoh. (Express photo)

The court has also directed that female students not be compelled to wear hijab.

The lawyer for the state, Pradeep Gupta, had opposed the bail of the accused persons.

On the other hand, the lawyer for the accused, Qasim Ali, told the court that the accused persons were falsely implicated in the case. He argued that the head scarf (hijab) was made mandatory by the school management and not by the present applicants”.

A photo from the Ganga Jamuna Higher Secondary School in Damoh. (Express photo)

In May, a poster celebrating the school’s success in Class 10 board exams was put up outside the premises, featuring some non-Muslim students in headscarves.

This set off protests by right-wing groups, who raised allegations of religious conversion, even as the school insisted the headscarf was part of its uniform. The issue snowballed as the Home Minister sought a probe and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, too, criticised the school.

On June 7, police had filed a case against 11 members of the school management committee under IPC sections 295 (damaging or defiling any object held as sacred by any class of persons), 506 (criminal intimidation), 120B (punishment of criminal conspiracy), as well as provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act and the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, 2021.