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Rajasthan teacher fired over celebratory post after India’s WC defeat to Pakistan
The teacher, Nafeesa Attari, later, issued a statement via a video message, apologising for her WhatsApp status and also clarified that her intention was not to hurt anyone’s sentiment.
A school teacher in Rajasthan’s Udaipur was expelled after her WhatsApp status, celebrating Pakistan’s triumph over India in the ICC T20 world cup on Sunday, went viral on social media. Nafeesa Attari, a teacher of privately run Neerja Modi School, had put up a picture of Pakistani cricketers from the match, with the caption “Jeeeet gayeeee… We wonnn.”
The school’s chairman, Mahendra Sojatia, later, said a decision on her termination was taken following a meeting conducted by the Sojatia Charitable Trust, which runs the school. “Yes, we have taken a decision to terminate the teacher,” Sojatia was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
Apart from being sacked from her job, a case has also been lodged against Attari. Amba Mata Police Station SHO Narpat Singh said the case was filed under Section 153 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for provocation with intent to cause riot.
Later, Attari issued a statement via a video message wherein she apologised for the post and clarified that her intention was not to hurt anyone’s sentiment.
The expelled teacher explained that she replied in the affirmative when being asked if she was a supporter of Pakistan only because the latter’s WhatsApp message was filled with “emojis and it was [an] environment of fun.”
According to an India Today report, a parent had asked the question to Attari. “But it doesn’t mean (in any way) that I support Pakistan. I am an Indian and I love India. I love India as much as everyone else does,” she said in the video message.
Attari stated that she deleted the status as soon as she realised her “mistake”.
