Kanpur: School directors booked under anti-conversion law

As the controversy over the recitation of Kalima in their morning assembly by the Florets International School in Kanpur gets uglier, its managing directors have been booked under Section 295-A IPC (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings) and section 5 (1) of Unlawful conversion of Religion Act 2021.

The directors – Sumeet Makhija and Nidhi Makhija – have been booked by the Kanpur police.

The school came under the right-wing radar when a Hindu student’s parent posted a video on the social media platform Twitter, of her child reciting Kalima and tagged chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

The issue soon snowballed as parents and a group of Hindutva organizations along with members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party staged protests in front of the school alleging that their children were being ‘converted to Islam’ and demanded Kalima be removed from the school assembly.

Amid the controversy, reports that a ‘purification’ process was also conducted on the school premises during the protests surfaced.

Reacting to the allegation, the school authorities while speaking to the media, cleared the air stating that prayers of all four religions – Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, and Sikhism – were being taught in the school for the last 13-14 years and no one ever had a complaint or an issue.

The school authorities said that they have replaced the prayers with the national anthem.

The district magistrate also instructed one of the officials from the education department to conduct a meeting with teachers, parents, and students and submit a report based on it.

Owing to the gravity of the situation, heavy police force was deployed around the school.