Emotion in India after sordid revelations in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Videos showed how a teacher urged her students to beat and insult a Muslim man. An investigation has been opened but human rights defenders fear that the professor will be spared in this state dominated by Hindu extremism.
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With our correspondent in Bangalore, Como Bastin
” I decided that the Muslims had to be hit. What are you waiting for ? Hit the hardest! The video is not dated but it is edifying. In the town of Muzaffarnagar, 150 kilometers from the capital Delhi, a teacher felt free to teach her students how to punish Muslims.
If the teacher has apologized, the child is traumatized and some worry that the case will be buried. Uttar Pradesh, the most populous of Indian states, is ruled by an extremist Hindu monk complacent towards discrimination. Mohammed Haider, a lawyer in Lucknow, took the case to the Indian Human Rights Commission.
” This teacher taught students how to hit minorities. This crime is punishable by law, it leads to murder on religious grounds. The family declined to press charges, apparently due to local pressure from the police. India is a secular country and the teacher must be punished and a place offered to the child in another school. »
For many human rights defenders, this video is not a news item. It shows how ruling Hindu nationalists have legitimized hate speech against Muslims, who make up 15% of India’s population.