A Catholic school in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh has sought police protection following alleged threat from a rightwing student body.
On April 18, a delegation of 30 teachers, majority of them women, submitted a memorandum seeking police protection for Nirmal Jyoti Senior Secondary School in Bina, Sagar district.
A day earlier, members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) staged a sit-in protest in front of the school for more than three hours.
ABVP is the student wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party that rules the state.
“The ABVP members blocked the main gate and did not allow the students and their parents to move out,” said school principal Sister Grace Tharayil.
Although the school officials had informed the police about the ABVP threat to stage the protest, police did not provide security that helped the activists to create havoc, said the nun, a member of the Congregation of Mother Carmel.
The protesters accused the school of organ trafficking, religious conversion, and demanded the withdrawal of its permit to operate.
“They called off the protest with a warning to the school management that they would come back again after a week if the school is not shut down,” said Gautam Niranjan, the school’s sports teacher.
The school, started in 1987, and has more than 2,000 students.
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