A Muslim woman teacher working at a government primary school in Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh has been suspended for making comments on social media regarding the hate campaign against Pahalgam attack survivor Himanshi Narwal, who urged people not to target Kashmiris and Muslims.
Zeba Afroz, assistant teacher at the primary school in Maloghat, Chopan, was suspended for posting “objectionable” content on her Facebook account, said officials.
“It has been brought to the attention of the undersigned by certain respected journalists in the district that Mrs. Zeba Afroz (E-Code 324086), working at Primary School Maloghat Chopan, has made communal and controversial comments on the social media platform (Facebook) regarding the Pulwama terrorist attack,” said Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA) Mukul Anand Pandey in a statement.
Her comment was defending Himanshi Narwal, the wife of Navy Lieutenant Vinay Narwal, after she had faced hate campaign for saying, “We don’t want people going after Muslims or Kashmiris. We want peace and only peace. Of course, we want justice. The people who have wronged him should be punished,” a statement that many interpreted as a “tight slap” to those targeting Muslims and Kashmiris after the attack.
In support of Himanshi, she remarked against the campaign against her, “Such disgusting and low-level thinking is emerging.”
She is further accused of posting a statement regarding the murder of a Muslim man, Gulfam, in Agra, in which she attempted to highlight the communal angle of the case—an aspect police had dismissed—stating, “All the accused in the killing of Gulfam in Agra have been arrested in a police encounter, and the case was manipulated, making it a case of killing over money dealings. The accused, who had publicly instigated to murder 26 other Muslims, were given a clean chit by a terrorist group, and the law has done its work. If the case’s details were opened, it would expose high-ranking terrorists linked to this organization, and one day, society would honor these accused with flower petals and garlands.”
In another post, she wrote, “The loyal ones of the country have always been Muslims; the traitors have always been the ones who betrayed,” which the department found to be in complete violation of the Uttar Pradesh Government Servant Conduct Rules, 1956, and detrimental to the dignity of the teaching profession.
The Hindutva handles claimed these comments were “communal” and “objectionable,” leading to disciplinary action.
According to the authorities, the Facebook posts were “indecent” and against the integrity of the teaching profession, and were considered inappropriate and in violation of conduct rules.
“In light of the allegations of making indecent and controversial comments on social media in violation of the Uttar Pradesh Government Servant Conduct Rules, 1966, and the dignity of the teaching profession, Mrs. Zeba Afroz, Teacher at Primary School Maloghat Chopan, Sonbhadra, is hereby suspended with immediate effect,” reads the order issued by the Office of the District Basic Education Officer, Sonbhadra.
