Case filed against Dehradun school for seeking halal meat supply

The case was registered on the complaint lodged by Bajrang Dal members against the school management. Only designations of the accused have been cited and no one has been named in the First Information Report

The manager, principal, and vice-principal of a prominent boarding school in Dehradun have been booked for allegedly promoting enmity among communities over a tender floated by them for the supply of halal meat for the institute’s mess on Thursday.

Representational image. (AFP)

The case was registered on the complaint lodged by Bajrang Dal members against the school management. Only designations of the accused have been cited and no one has been named in the First Information Report (FIR). HT has seen a copy of the FIR.

Sub-inspector Mahavir Singh, who is probing the case, said the case was registered under the Indian Penal Code’s Section 505(2) for “publishing a statement that promoted enmity among communities”.

“The case was registered after receiving a complaint from Bajrang Dal leader Vikas Verma. However, we are yet to question the representatives of the school management mentioned in the FIR. Action would be taken after a proper probe,” said Singh.

Verma welcomed the police action but said more stringent sections should have been invoked.

“What they were doing is completely unpardonable. They were inviting just halal meat supply to serve to the students of Hindu community also which is not permissible in the Hindu religion. We asked them to show documents of any old tender for jhatka meat which is permissible in the Hindu religion, but they failed to show any. It just shows that the school management was doing that for long,” said Verma.

Verma demanded an apology from management for their “misdeed”. “We would soon visit other prominent schools in Dehradun and Mussoorie which too are reportedly serving only halal meat and poultry items to students of all the communities.”

The representatives of the school could not be contacted for a reaction. The copy will be updated once they react.

Halal meat is slaughtered according to Islamic norms and involves the draining of blood from an animal’s body while jhatka is the meat from an animal killed instantaneously.