The manager of #Kanpur’s Florets School is booked under the #anti-conversion law for allowing #Islamic Kalima prayers in the morning prayers
There was a huge row over the recital of ‘kalima’ during morning prayers in Kanpur where Florets International School’s school manager was booked under the state’s anti-conversion law and for hurting religious sentiments.
Police said they were alerted by a tweet that alleged that the school was making students recite Islamic prayers during morning prayers. An FIR was lodged against the manager of a private school in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur on Tuesday under the state’s anti-conversion law and for hurting religious sentiments after a parent of a student complained about the ‘kalima’ being recited in the school during morning prayers.
After this, a joint team of officials from the district administration and police met the school principal and the manager, who informed them that their students have been reciting prayers of four religions for the last several years and no parent had objected to it. “School authorities also told us that on Friday, few parents objected to four prayers so they stopped it. Now, only the national anthem is being sung during morning prayers,” Kanpur Assistant Commissioner of Police Nishank Sharma.
In a video, school principal Ankit Yadav is allegedly heard saying that the school has been reciting four prayers since 2003 when the school started. “Parents of a few students raised objections now, after which we immediately took action and stopped four prayers. We are now going with the national anthem,” Yadav said.
The school has had a tradition for years since 2003 of singing songs and reciting prayers from all religions basically to teach tolerance and acceptance of different religions.
Ashok Swain said, “In UP, India, in the morning prayer class, students of a school have been singing, the prayers from all religions for years. Now, Hindu far right angry that students also singing Islamic prayers, school has been closed for 2 days, washed with Ganga water, an FIR has been lodged.”
In UP, India, in the morning prayer class, students of a school have been singing, the prayers from all religions for years. Now, Hindu far right angry that students also singing Islamic prayers, school has been closed for 2 days, washed with Ganga water, an FIR has been lodged.
— Ashok Swain (@ashoswai) August 2, 2022
No arrest has been made yet, police said. Kanpur’s Florets School. In his FIR, the father of a student alleged that seeds of conversion were being sown in children at the school and demanded that all branches of the school be sealed, fees be returned and arrangements be made to get students admitted into other schools, police said. Following the complaint, the Kanpur police have now booked the manager under the Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021, and under Section 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feeling of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code.
Florets International School has a goal to shape individuals in their formative years and imbues them with values that would govern all their choices in life as expressed by the principal Shradha Sharma.
The school is incidentally run with a vision to broaden horizons and inculcate tolerance of religions with the prayers of four religions recited since 2003. The new accusation of using the prayers to convert the students to Islam is unfounded. It is the practice of modern schools including Christian schools nowadays to inculcate the prayers of different religions during the morning prayers to teach the students acceptance of one another. It is unfortunate that parents cannot widen their views therefore also taking their children on the wrong pathway by sparking intolerance.