Amidst the reports of taking weekly holidays on Friday instead of Sunday in Muslim-dominated areas in Jharkhand, a report has come to light where a teacher was allegedly beaten for not allowing Muslim students to go for Namaz. The incident took place in the Goilkera block of West Singhbum district on July 29. As per reports, Ramendra Dubey, who is a teacher in a Government School, was beaten up in front of students by one local leader of the ruling party Jharkhand Mukti Morch (JMM) Akbar Khan, who is a close aide of state minister Joba Manjhi.
Reports suggest that on Friday (July 29), when Dubey reached the school premises at 9 AM, Khan was already present there. Khan called him, to which Dubey said he would come after taking attendance of the students. Khan followed him and grabbed his collar from behind, and started beating him.
When Dubey asked Khan why he had beaten him, Khan questioned him why Muslim students were not allowed to go for Namaz at 11:30. Dubey refuted his allegations and told Khan that he never stopped anyone from offering Namaz, but Khan stated the students told him otherwise. Dubey further alleged that Khan threatened to kill him.
Dubey went to the Goilkera Police Station on the same day and tried to file a complaint against Khan. However, the Police reportedly refused to take his complaint allegedly because of Khan’s association with the ruling party. His complaint was later submitted on July 30, and an FIR was filed only after he removed the point where he talked about Namaz in the complaint.
Akbar Khan has claimed no such incident of assault happened. He said if any student wants to go home for Namaz or Pooja at 11:50 AM at the time of the break, he should be allowed to go. He further claimed that he was being implicated in political controversy.
OpIndia tried to call Goilkera Police Station but could not connect.