Minor Hindu students compelled to recite Islamic Kalma during their morning prayers by school authorities

Case ID : cb2827d | Location : Sultanpur, Uttarakhand, India | Date of Incident : Wed, 11 December, 2024

Case ID : cb2827d

Sultanpur, Uttarakhand, India

11 December, 2024

Minor Hindu students compelled to recite Islamic Kalma during their morning prayers by school authorities

Predatory Proselytisation

Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination

Conversion of minor

Case Summary

In Sultanpur, Uttarakhand, minor Hindu students at a private educational institution were compelled to recite the Islamic Kalma during their morning school prayers. A video of this incident went viral on social media and sparked widespread outrage. The incident took place at Adarsh Janata Montessori Junior High School in Sultanpur Patti, renamed Kaushalya Puri, where minor Hindu students were seen reciting the Kalma in Arabic as part of the daily morning prayer routine. The video spread rapidly on social media and prompted members of Hindu organisations, including the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, to stage protests at the school premises. They also submitted a written complaint to the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, seeking action against the school management. The protesters stated that the practice was inappropriate and hurt the religious sentiments of the minor Hindu students. Meanwhile, the school principal, Girish Chandra Saini, claimed that for nearly a year, the Kalma had been included in the common morning prayer for all children. He further claimed that he did this due to a lack of awareness and apologised for the incident after the video went viral. It is important to note here that the school had approximately 110 Hindu students and 80 Muslim students. Following the public backlash, the school discontinued the practice with immediate effect, accepting that it was not appropriate to require all students to participate in a specific religious recitation. The District Chief Education Officer, PS Rawat, confirmed that the Education Department had taken notice of the matter. Their investigation revealed that while the school was located in a Muslim-majority area, Hindu students were also being made to recite the Kalma, which violated educational guidelines. A formal notice was issued to the school, and further action was initiated based on the findings of the departmental inquiry.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Predatory Proselytisation. Within this, the subcategory selected is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. The tertiary category selected is- Conversion of Minor. 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. This case has been added to the tracker because minor Hindu students were compelled to recite the Islamic Kalma during their morning prayer sessions by the school authorities. Firstly, it is important to highlight that the victims were minor Hindu children who were compelled to recite the Islamic Kalma, a declaration of the Islamic faith. Since the victims were minors, the element of consent and genuine change of conscience was missing ab initio. Minors, due to their young age and lack of maturity, are particularly vulnerable to manipulation and coercion. They may not have the ability to fully understand the implications of converting to another religion or chanting the prayers of another faith. Subtle manipulation tactics can be difficult to detect, especially when employed by trusted authority figures, such as school authorities, in positions of influence. This makes it challenging for parents to identify and address instances of religious manipulation in schools. The school authorities used their position of authority and exploited the vulnerability of the minor Hindu victims. This was a targeted attempt to impose Islam on Hindu children, which is a form of proselytisation that exploits the school environment and targets Hindu students due to their faith. Such actions are a result of bias and disdain for Hindu students due to their religious identity. Secondly, forcing young Hindu children to recite the Islamic Kalma was not a neutral act of interfaith harmony but a deliberate imposition of the Islamic faith over their own Hindu beliefs. Such coercion and imposition infringe upon the children’s right to freely practice their own faith and violate their cultural and religious identity. When Hindu individuals are subjected to such compulsion, it amounts to psychological and emotional harm, as they are compelled to participate in religious prayers that contradict their beliefs, causing confusion, distress, and a sense of alienation. Thirdly, the justification offered by the school principal after the incident came to light did not mitigate the gravity of the act. Characterising the practice as a lack of awareness or an established routine failed to acknowledge the harm caused to the children and the violation of secular educational norms. A school is supposed to be a secular place, and imparting religious education, especially without the consent of parents, is a deliberate attempt at subtly brainwashing the child and creating fertile grounds for converting them in future. This calculated and repetitive exposure to religious doctrine is a clear example of religious brainwashing. Furthermore, the investigation revealed that the school was situated in a Muslim-majority area, which indicates that the addition of Kalma to the morning prayer was a deliberate addition, rather than a lack of awareness. The decision to introduce an explicit Islamic declaration of faith into school prayer sessions reflected conscious accommodation of one religious ideology at the expense of others. This practice was going on for over a year, indicating a systematic religious imposition rather than a temporary lapse in judgment. This resulted in the normalisation of Islamic religious expression while marginalising the Hindu faith of the minor students, making the practice inherently unequal and exclusionary. In summary, compelling minor Hindu students to recite the Islamic Kalma constituted a clear instance of religious coercion driven by bias against their Hindu identity. Since the core motivation of the act was rooted in religious animosity and resulted in harm to Hindu children because of their faith, this case has been added to the tracker. Disclaimer: It is important to clarify that none of the media sources covering this case have specified the exact date since when the minor Hindu students were being compelled to recite the Kalma, though it is mentioned that the practice has been going on for about a year. Thus, to document this case, we have used an indicative date—12 December 2024—as a placeholder to represent the beginning of these activities. While media coverage of the incident emerged on 12 December 2025, the Hinduphobia Tracker records the incident based on when the victim’s ordeal began, not when it was reported. Disclaimer: In this case, although media reports state that school authorities were involved in compelling Hindu students to recite the Kalma, the reports do not specify the exact number of individuals responsible. Though other staff members were also involved, the report explicitly names only the school principal, Girish Chandra Saini. Therefore, for the purpose of documenting this incident in the Hinduphobia Tracker, a conservative approach is adopted, and the perpetrator count is recorded as one (1), referring solely to the principal.