School managed by Sikh committee in Delhi suspends teacher for organising Saraswati Puja

Case ID : 7f64d4c | Location : Delhi, India | Date of Incident : Thu, 26 January, 2023

Case ID : 7f64d4c

Delhi, India

26 January, 2023

School managed by Sikh committee in Delhi suspends teacher for organising Saraswati Puja

Restriction/ban on Hindu practices

Restriction on expression of Hindu identity

Case Summary

A teacher from a school in Delhi was suspended for performing Saraswati Puja on the occasion of Vasant Panchmi. The teacher who is employed by the Guru Harkishan Public School in Delhi to teach music to its students happened to organize Saraswati Pujan on January 25. According to reports, the school is managed by the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee which opposed the event claiming that there was ‘no tradition of idol worship’ and issued a suspension order against the teacher.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

As per case specifics, it has been placed under the sub-category- 'Restriction on expression of Hindu identity', under the prime category- 'Restriction/ban on Hindu practices' of the hate tracker. An example of the state-affected prejudicial and targeted orders against the Hindu community would be a government denying the right of a Hindu or a group of Hindus to hold a religious procession owing to the animosity of non-Hindu groups. Denial of the religious right of the Hindus to assuage the non-Hindu group which harbours animosity to a point where it could lead to violence against Hindus is not only a failure of law and order but is a prejudicial order against Hindus, denying them their fundamental rights to express their religious identity. An example of a hate crime against Hindus by a non-Hindu would be a non-Hindu institution forcing its Hindu employees to abandon religious symbols that a Hindu would wear as an expression of faith owing to inherent prejudice against the faith professed by the victim or a non-Hindu group of people restricting a Hindu group from constructing a place of worship simply because the demography of the area in which the temple is being built is dominated by non-Hindus. Such actions are driven by religious animosity and/or prejudice against Hindus and their faith and would therefore be categorized as a hate crime. Here, a teacher teaching in a school managed by the Sikh Committee was suspended for organising Vasant Panchami celebrations, a major Hindu festival dedicated to the worship of the goddess Saraswati. By doing this, the Sikh Committee not only infringed on the religious rights of the Hindus but also displayed their animosity and prejudice against Hindu beliefs. Since the act was prejudicial to the rights of Hindus and stems from hatred against Hinduism, this case is being categorised as a religiously motivated hate crime.