School in MP attacked
On Monday, around three hundred people gathered around the school named St Joseph High School in Madhya Pradesh to protest and the protest soon turned violent and resulted in property damage.
The incident took place when class 12th examinations were going on and the students were in the exam hall. The students wrote the exam in fear of the violence going outside the school. Till now police have detained four people and are looking into the CCTV footage for further investigation against the protestor.
St Joseph High School is in the Vidisha district of Madhya Pradesh and during school hours, some of the men from Bajrang Dal and VHP entered the premises forcefully and accused the school.
A student from St. Joseph High School told had teachers shut the classroom door but they were unable to block the noise and soon we heard slogans and then teachers started shifting the students to the classrooms on the first floor of the building. The students could not concentrate on the exams, they feared the outside situation.
Many students messed up with their examination and main subject like mathematics and due to fear, they could not even prepare for the next exam. The parents did not want to send the students to school but students attended the exams because of being a class 12th.
Students were asked to stay inside the classrooms and every student was scared. The schools were closed for the students except for those who had their exams scheduled. The mobs entered with iron rods and stones.
On Monday, police came to school after the goons left, the school also requested security from the police but they played their request down and said that the goons will only shout slogans and disperse.
According to the police officer, the protest was supposed to be peaceful but some of the miscreants used it as an opportunity and damaged the glass windows with the stones, they were carrying. Police have detained four people for mischief and rioting and an investigation is going on, police are looking into every footage for more clues.
The school was set up eleven years ago and is run by a missionary society and has about 1,500 students. According to Neelesh Aggarwal, VHP leader, who led the protest claimed that as per a media report, eight Hindu girls were converted at the school.
The school has denied the accusation and said that a Holy Communion was organized in the school on October 31 and a video of that event was circulated on Youtube and it was falsely implied that the Hindu girls were converted.
The main issue is about the protection of the students and this could have been prevented but the group leaders chose to protest in front of the school without knowing and discussing it with the school staff or the Principal.
Even if the protest was peacefully supposed to the, it was not mandatory, a mature people will try to know the details and discuss it with the opposite side and during the protest, some people arrived with the stones and iron rods, what was that supposed to be the reason.
Students are already scared and it could have injured any of the students or staff inside the school premises. It was a case of misinterpretation but can also be said as the fault of the party leaders, who chose to protest and put the children at risk.
Many of the students are traumatized, scared, and even the parents can not risk their kids. Many students could not concentrate on their examinations and mess up with them, they even had exams the very next day and could not prepare for the exam in fear.
They came to school just because they are a student of class 12th and it is an important year for them. The students must have written the most crucial examination on Monday.
edited and proofread by nikita sharma
