Muslim teacher suspended for praising Pakistani army during tensions following the Pahalgam Hindu massacre
Sehore, Madhya Pradesh, India 
16 May, 2025
Case Summary
In Mehatwara, Sehore, Madhya Pradesh, a female Muslim teacher named Shahnaz Parveen posted a video on social media in support of the Pakistani army and offered prayers for their safety. This incident occurred amidst the ongoing India-Pakistan conflict. According to media reports, Parveen was a laboratory teacher at the Government Higher Secondary School in Mehtwara. Her video supporting, praising and praying for the Pakistani army went viral on social media. Following this incident, Bajrang Dal members submitted a memorandum to Ashta SDM Swati Mishra, demanding strict action against the teacher. Upon receiving the letter from the SDM, the District Education Officer, Sanjay Singh Tomar, immediately suspended Shahnaz Parveen. However, a police case was not registered in this matter. The education department stated that Shahnaz Parveen’s post violated the BNSS, which was considered a big misconduct, leading to her suspension. India carried out ‘Operation Sindoor’ on May 7, 2025, destroying nine terrorist camps in Pakistan in response to the Pahalgam terror attack. The Pahalgam Hindu massacre was a deadly Islamic terrorist attack that took place on April 22, 2025, in the Pahalgam region of Jammu and Kashmir, where Islamic terrorists specifically targeted Hindu tourists, asking their religion before executing them. India strongly condemned this act of Islamic terrorism, particularly emphasising the brutality of targeting people solely based on their religious identity. The military operation was a firm retaliation aimed at dismantling the terror camps in Pakistan harbouring and training Islamic terrorists responsible for the Pahalgam Hindu massacre.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Hate Speech against Hindus. Within this, the subcategory selected is - Anti-Hindu slurs, mocking faith. Anti-Hindu slurs and the deliberate mocking of the Hindu faith owing to religious animosity involve the usage of derogatory terms, stereotypes, or offensive references to religious practices, symbols, or figures. One of the common anti-Hindu slurs used against Hindus is “cow-worshipper” and “cow piss drinker”. The intention of using this term is to demean and mock Hindus as a group and their religious beliefs since Hindus consider the cow holy. Additionally, some symbols and the slurs attached to them have a historical context that exacerbates the insult, hate, stereotyping, dehumanisation and oppression against Hindus. Cow worship has been used for centuries to denigrate Hindus, insult their faith and oppress Hindus specifically as a religious group. There has been overwhelming documentation about how cow slaughter has been used to persecute Hindus with cow meat being thrown in temples and places of worship. There has also been overwhelming documentation where cow meat (beef) has been force-fed to Hindus to either forcefully convert them to Islam or denigrate their faith. Apart from cow worship, the Swastika – which holds deep religious significance for the Hindus – has also been misinterpreted and distorted to use as a slur against Hindus. Similarly, the worship of the Shivling has been used by supremacist ideologies and religions to denigrate Hindus owing to religious animosity. Such slurs and denigration stem out of inherent animosity and hate towards Hindus and their faith, therefore, it is categorised as hate speech targeted at Hindus specifically owing to their religious identity. Here, a few could make arguments that posting videos in support of the Pakistani army and praying for their well-being can be considered anti-India and pro-Pakistan, but not anti-Hindu. However, rendering support and showing allegiance to Pakistan not only shows pro-Pakistan sentiments but also anti-Hindu sentiments. It is pertinent to note that Muslim extremists harbour specific animosity towards Hindus and their faith. They also view India as a Hindu collectivity. The very basis of the partition of India was that the Muslims believed that Islam was a nation unto itself, which could not survive with a Hindu collectivity like India. Further, Muslims often believe in transnational unity - or the Ummah - which is a belief that all Muslims across the world are a nation unto themselves and therefore, loyalty as far as the nation-state is concerned lies with the Muslim collectivity and not with a Hindu collectivity like India. Supporting the Pakistani army in this context can be interpreted as support for the Muslim collectivity. Such expressions of transnational loyalty give rise to anti-Hindu sentiments. Consequently, any form of support for Pakistan that reflects transnational allegiance of Muslims and identification with the Ummah is automatically against Hindus and the Hindu collectivity. Thus, this case is added to the hate crime database. Disclaimer: It is important to clarify that the reports do not specify the exact date when the pro-Pakistan content was posted on social media. Therefore, for documentation purposes, we have recorded the date based on when the incident was reported in the media.
Case Status
Complaint not filed
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
female
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