Government primary school teacher Gaffar Ahmed teaches Urdu and Islamic texts to Hindu students, praises hijab
Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India 
16 April, 2024
Case Summary
A case of imparting Islamic education and Urdu language to Hindu students in a government primary school in Saharanpur district, Uttar Pradesh was reported. Bajrang Dal lodged a complaint with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the District Magistrate, and the Superintendent of Police of Saharanpur. The complaint said that teacher Gaffar Ahmed was teaching Arabic religious books to Hindu children. The complaint also stated that Gaffar praises the burqa to Hindu girls and influences students' behaviour with religious education. A number of Scheduled Caste (SC) victims is said to be high. Bajrang Dal official Harish Kaushik said that students were also being taught things like Kafir, Momin and Dozakh. It is alleged that the teacher, Gaffar Ahmed, is originally associated with Darul Uloom Deoband of Saharanpur. Videos and screenshots of the religious education materials have been attached to the complaint. Despite previous complaints, no action has been taken so far.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
Religious brainwashing essentially means the often subtle and forcible indoctrination to induce someone to give up their religious beliefs to accept contrasting regimented ideas. Religious brainwashing also involves propaganda and manipulation. It involves the systematic effort, driven by religious malice and indoctrination, to persuade “non-believers’ to accept allegiance, command, or doctrine to and of a contrasting faith. Cases of such brainwashing are far more nuanced than direct threats, coercion, inducement and violence. In such cases, it is often seen that there is repeated, subtle and continual manipulation of the victim to induce disaffection towards their own faith and acceptance of the contrasting faith of the perpetrator. While subtle indoctrination is widely acknowledged as predatory, an element which is often understated in such conversions or the attempts of such conversion is the role of loyalty and trust which might develop between the perpetrator and the victim. Fiduciary relationships are often abused to affect such religious conversion. For example, an educator transmits religious doctrine of a competing faith to a Hindu student. The Hindu student is likely to accept what the teacher is transmitting owing to the existence of the fiduciary relationship. The exploitation of the fiduciary relationship to religiously indoctrinate victims would also be included in this category. Since the underlying animosity towards the victim’s faith forms the basis of predatory proselytization, such cases are considered religiously motivated hate crimes. In this case, the Muslim teacher of the government-run primary school was attempting to subtly indoctrinate the Hindu children under his care to disenfranchise them from their religious identity. He was doing so by making them study religious material not of their faith, praising Islamic practices like wearing the burqa and teaching them about Islamic concepts that denigrate their faith - like 'Kafir'. Further, it is pertinent to note that since it was a primary school, it means that all the children were minors, indicating a lack of consent and a genuine change of conscience. It is a well-established fact that children are more susceptible to manipulation since they are still developing emotionally, cognitively, and socially. Their brains are not fully matured, making them more vulnerable to influence and less capable of critically evaluating information. Moreover, subtle manipulation tactics can be difficult to detect, especially when employed by trusted authority figures in positions of influence. This makes it challenging for parents, to identify and address instances of religious manipulation. Consequently, cases involving religious manipulation of minors not only represent an infringement on an individual's religious freedom but also demonstrate a calculated strategy of targeting those who are less able to resist or understand the long-term implications of conversion, making it a significant case of religious motivated hate crime. For this reason, this case has been added to the tracker.
Case Status
Complaint filed
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
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