Students‘punished’, probe ordered

BALLIA: The Ballia district administration has taken a serious note of a complaint that students of an aided inter college here are being punished for singing ‘Vande Mataram’ or chanting ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ and ordered an inquiry into it.

Members of social welfare organisation Manas Mandir, who visited the GMAM Inter College on Bilthara Road here on Friday, found that the students in the institution were being punished for singing ‘Vande Mataram’ or chanting ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ after the school prayers and complained about the same to the authorities. According to the manager of the organisation, Shiv Kumar Jaiswal, not only the students, but the teachers also complained about the same on camera. “Economics teacher Sanjay Pandey told us that there was a ban on singing Vande Mataram and chanting Bharat Mata ki Jai in the school and anyone doing so is punished,” Jaiswal said on Saturday. “Pandey told us that one student, who by mistake had chanted ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ after the assembly, was made to squat under the sun for hours,” he added. “The students also told the members of our team that they were punished if they tried to sing Vande Mataram,” Jaiswal said, adding he had already sent a copy of the complaint, along with the video recordings of the statements of the students and teachers, to CM Yogi Adityanath.

When contacted, DM Bhawani Singh Khangaraut said the matter was serious and that DIOS Narendra Dev Pandey was directed to look into it.