Gujarat school denies religious discrimination against Muslim girl who topped Class X
The School Management of Shree KT Patel Smriti Vidyalaya in Gujarat’s Mehsana district has denied allegations of not honouring their Class X topper Arnaz Banu. According to the girl’s father, Arnaz Banu reached her school located in Lunwa village of Mehsana district, Gujarat on August 15 to attend the felicitation ceremony of class toppers. She was the topper in her class securing 87% marks.
To her dismay, she found that there was no prize for her. Instead, it was given to the student who stood second. Speaking to the media, Arnaz Banu’s father, Sanwar Khan said, “As farmers, our family has been living here for generations without facing any kind of discrimination, but now my daughter has been deliberately ignored for the award she deserves.”
Initial reports suggest that the Principal of the school, Bipin Patel alleged that Arnaz was absent on August 15, while her father avers that she was present and can be verified through CC TV footage. The news about this incident went viral on social media with many citing it as another case of religious discrimination against Muslims in India.
Other media reports say it is wrong to bring a religious angle to the case. It was an official impromptu programme organised by some teachers in which only the students who took admission to the same school after Class X were felicitated. As Arnaz joined some other junior college, she was not invited. She will be officially felicitated on January 26 along with all students in an official programme.
IIM-Bangalore faculty urges corporate India to ‘de-fund’ hate speech
A group of current and retired faculty members at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) has asked leaders of corporate India, to “de-fund” the spread of misinformation and hate speech through news channels and social media. In an open letter, written in their personal capacity, 11 present and six retired IIMB faculty members have said that they are drawing the attention of corporate India leaders to the “fragile state of internal security with an increasing risk of violent conflicts in the country.”
Noting that over the past few years, an open and public exhibit of hatred towards minorities in public discourse has become common practice in India, in political discourse, television news, as well as on social media, the signatories said, the usage of othering, dehumanising and demonising language while referring to minorities has reached alarming levels, and acts of violent hate crimes, often by organised and radicalised groups, against minorities have seen a rise.
9 killed, 8 injured from gas stove fire on train
Nine people were killed and eight injured in a fire that broke out from a gas stove inside a stationary railway compartment in southern India, a report citing officials said on August 26. Rescue operations have ended and the injured are being provided treatment, S. Sangeetha, a senior civil admin official in the Tamil Nadu state, was reported as saying.
She said that in the morning when passengers tried to light a gas stove to make coffee, “there was a cylinder blast.” A Southern India Railways statement said the incident took place at the Madurai Yard in Tamil Nadu. It said an “illegal gas cylinder” led to the fire.