As religious intolerance continues to persist in India, a viral video depicting hatred towards Muslims has raised serious concerns about the country’s supposed secular values.
In India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, a teacher at a school was captured on video instructing Hindu students to physically harm one of their Muslim classmates and even advocated for his expulsion from the institution based solely on his religion.
The teacher, Trapta Tyagi, went so far as to instruct all the students to physically punish the Muslim child as a form of disciplinary action, citing his failure to grasp a lesson as the reason.
What is particularly troubling is that Tyagi explicitly singled out “all the Muslim kids” in her instructions, highlighting a disturbing undercurrent of Islamophobia in India.
In a rather unfortunate turn of events, Mohammad Irshad, the father of the victim, has chosen not to pursue any further action. He reached a compromise with the school’s administration after they refunded his child’s tuition fees.
The victim’s father, Mohammad Irshad, expressed his dismay, stating, “My son is a diligent student who also receives additional tutoring. We are baffled as to why the teacher treated him in such a manner. It appears that the teacher harbored deep-seated hatred.”
Irshad, as reported by Al Jazeera, mentioned that while the teacher acknowledged her mistake and offered an apology for her actions, he has decided to transfer his son to a different school.
He explained, “She may promise not to mistreat her students again, but this is not the environment in which I want my son to receive an education and grow.”
Religious discrimination in India, the world’s largest democracy, has escalated significantly since the rise of the Hindu nationalist BJP party to power in 2015.
Recent incidents in the northern state of Haryana have highlighted the concerning levels of religious violence. In July, a hard-line Hindu group conducted a provocative march through the Muslim-majority Nuh district, playing offensive music on powerful sound systems. This led to seven deaths and over 70 injuries in riots in Nuh and Gurugram districts of Haryana.
The U.S. State Department, in its annual reports on religious freedom, has documented numerous attacks against religious minorities, including Muslims and Christians, in India. Human rights organizations have also accused Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government of promoting discriminatory religious nationalism, which targets religious minorities such as Muslims, Christians, and Sikhs.
