MP school principal framed under freedom of religion law, says court
Ruby Singh had filed the complaint at the police station against the school principal in the presence of leaders of Vishwa Hindu Parshad stating that she was under pressure from her school principal to convert.
Madhya Pradesh high court on Tuesday granted bail to the principal of a missionary school, booked under the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Ordinance 2020 on February 22 for alleged mental harassment of a female teacher and trying to force her to convert.
“Sister Bhagya has submitted that the complaint is false and registered only out of a sense of frustration experienced by the teacher Ruby Singh, on account of her termination from service of the school. The principal lodged a complaint to the sub-divisional magistrate on February 17 that the complainant was terminated from the services of school on account of her poor performance and lack of documents and was threatening to commit self-immolation if she is not reinstated. The same was forwarded to the SDO(P), Khajuraho, to look into the issue. Thereafter on February 20, the same letter was sent to town inspector Khajuraho police station,” said single bench judge Atul Sreedharan.
“The FIR was registered on February 22. It is clear that Ruby Singh falsely implicated the principal Sister Bhagya by levelling the allegations of forced conversion of her and her family,” the judge added before granting her interim bail.
Ruby Singh had filed the complaint at the police station against the school principal in the presence of leaders of Vishwa Hindu Parshad stating that she belonged to a lower-middle-class family and was under pressure from Sister Bhagya to convert; she also claimed that the principal used undignified words for Singh’s religion and when she refused to change her faith, her salary payment was stopped followed by sacking.