Minor Hindu students beaten by a Christian missionary school teacher for chanting "Jai Shri Ram"

Case ID : 90a062e | Location : Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Mon, 24 July, 2023
Case ID : 90a062e
location Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India
date 24 July, 2023
Minor Hindu students beaten by a Christian missionary school teacher for chanting "Jai Shri Ram"
Restriction/ban on Hindu practices
Restriction on expression of Hindu identity
Attack not resulting in death
Attacked for Hindu identity
Predatory Proselytisation
Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination
Conversion of minor

Case Summary

In Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, two Class 6 students of St Thomas School, Kidwai Nagar, were thrashed by a teacher, Chandan Christi, for chanting "Jai Shri Ram." Following the incident on 25 July 2023, the parents lodged a complaint with the school principal, Malvin D’Souza, who reportedly favoured the accused teacher. Advocate Praveen Fighter escalated the matter by filing a complaint with the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR). Taking cognisance under Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act and Section 17 of the RTE Act, NCPCR registrar Anu Chaudhary directed the district magistrate to investigate and submit a report within ten days. The district magistrate assigned Kiran Sachan, the principal of Government High School Patara, as the investigator.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been placed in the tracker under three prime categories. The first prime category is- Restriction/ban on Hindu practices. Within this, the sub-category selected is- Restriction on expression of Hindu identity. 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. Further, this case is being added to the primary category 'Predatory Proselytisation' and the sub-category 'Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination'. 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 grooming or 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 grooming or 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 transmitting religious doctrine of a competing faith to a Hindu student. The Hindu student is likely to accept what the teacher is transmitting owing to 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. The third category under which this case has been placed is- Attacked not resulting in death. Under this, the sub-category selected is- Attacked for Hindu identity. In several cases, Hindus are attacked merely for their Hindu identity without any perceived provocation. A classic example of this category of religiously motivated hate crime is a murder in 2016. 7 ISIS terrorists were convicted for shooting a school principal in Kanpur because they got ‘triggered’ seeing the Kalava on his wrist and tilak that he had put. In this, the Hindu victim had offered no provocation except for his Hindu religious identity. The motivation for the murder was purely religious, driven by religious supremacy. Such cases where Hindus are targeted merely for their religious identity would be documented as a hate crime under this category. Here, the Hindu students were beaten up by the teacher of a Christian Missionary-run convent school for chanting the 'Jai Shri Ram' slogan. "Jai Shri Ram" is a religious chant that is widely used in Hinduism as an expression of devotion to Lord Rama. Chanting this phrase is a form of religious expression, and penalizing someone for it could be seen as infringing on their right to religious freedom. Further, restricting someone from chanting a Hindu religious slogan can also be considered a prejudicial order denying the Hindu community its fundamental rights. Such arbitrary action taken against the Hindu students is prejudicial to the rights of Hindus and stems from animosity and prejudice against Hindu beliefs. Further, it is important to mention here that the accused teacher, by reprimanding the children for merely expressing their religious identity, essentially covertly tried to push them towards Christianity by distancing them from his religion and practices. Moreover, the Christian principal's response to the incident also highlights an underlying bias. By siding with the accused teacher, who reprimanded the students for chanting "Jai Shri Ram," the principal indirectly endorsed the suppression of the children's religious expression. This act goes beyond mere disciplinary misconduct, as it aligns with a covert attempt to alienate the students from their Hindu identity and practices. This sort of harassment is rooted in animosity towards the victim’s religious identity and is therefore documented as a religiously motivated hate crime in this Hinduphobia Tracker.

Victim Details

Total Victim

2

Deceased

0


Gender

  • Male 0
  • Female 0
  • Third Gender 0
  • Unknown 2

Caste

  • SC/ST 0
  • OBC 0
  • General 0
  • Unknown 2

Age Group

  • Minor 2
  • Adult 0
  • Senior Citizen 0
  • Unknown 0
Case Status Background
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Case Status


Complaint filed

Case Status Background
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Perpetrators Details

Perpetrators


Christian Extremists

Perpetrators Range


One Person

Perpetrators Gender


male

Case Details SVG
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