Parents support Mewat school targeted over Eid event

Normalcy has finally returned to Haryana’s Green Dales Public School, which was being harassed and fined R5 lakh by a self-proclaimed panchayat for organising a special assembly marking Eid.

Normalcy has finally returned to Haryana’s Green Dales Public School, which was being harassed and fined R5 lakh by a self-proclaimed panchayat for organising a special assembly marking Eid.

A self-proclaimed panchayat fined Green Dales Public School R5 lakh for organising a special assembly marking Eid. (Abhinav Saha/HT File)

After outrage, parents and local authorities have come forward in support of the school.

A report on July 24 in Hindustan Times had highlighted the regular harassment being faced by the school for allegedly forcing its students, majority Hindus, to follow Islamic rituals during the event on July 6.

However, the support by parents’ and local authorities has helped the school to function without any fear. The panchayat is no more troubling the school or the parents.

“The situation is absolutely normal and peaceful. After the report in HT came out, the local bodies and parents came forward to support the school enormously. Even the weekly meeting, in which the panchayat forced the school to pay the fine are not being conducted anymore,” said school manager Hema Sharma.

The deputy commissioner of Mewat, Mani Ram Sharma, assured that the entire matter has been solved. He also said that the school was not at fault and all the misunderstandings have been resolved.

“The situation is peaceful. We had sent the tehsildar and the police to the school on the day a complaint was registered by the school authorities. The officials even made the two parties talk and resolve the issue,” Mani Ram Sharma said.

The parents, who were skeptical about the entire event, are now backing the school. They said that the news about the school teaching namaz was just a rumour.

A parent, whose child studies in Class 6, said, “Tauru is a small town and nobody wants fights. We were scared of the group but if the school has not done anything wrong, no one should harass them.”

She also admitted that her husband was seeking an admission for their son in other schools. However, after the MLA and the deputy commissioner supported the school, they retracted.

The members of the panchayat said that the parents had asked them to take actions against the school. “The parents had come to us with the complaint. If the parents are clear then why should we question the school either?” said a member of the panchayat.

The panchayat also ordered Green Dales Public School to get rid of Muslim staff and students, make its girl students switch to salwar kameez, and banned it from hiking fees for two years.