It is utterly shameful that a 13-year-old girl Aaradhana Jain of the Jain community was allegedly forced to undertake a 68-day holy fast, called “Tapasya” leading to her death on October 3. She died just after a day her penance ended.
The minor girl was a Class-VIII student, that too, of an English medium school ‘St. Francis School’, Secunderabad of Telengana State. Because of Jain tradition, she was brainwashed to do this in order to become a “Bal Tapasvi” thereby helping her jeweller father to prosper in his business as per the advice given to him by a Jain Guru. She lived on water only. She died purely because of the foolish religious ritual.
Similarly, in Uttarakhand, lalit Karnatak, an upper caste teacher of a Government School in Bageshwar district, got extremely furious when he found Sohan Ram, a Dalit man, entered a flourmill and touched his flour bag. Unutterable caste remarks were hurled at the Dalit man, who on protesting, was attacked with a sharp weapon. Karnatak cut the Dalit man’s throat with a sickle.
Old fashioned teachers, who are practitioners of the caste system, are a disgrace on the Indian democracy. Time has come to revamp the academic system from the play school level to the PG level. All religious prayers should be banned from the school premises. Those who are caste-minded and wearing the so-called “scared thread” should not be appointed as teachers if the likes of Aaradhana or Sohan Ram are to be saved. love for humanism and scientific outlook should be the touchstone of education.
(The writer is general secretary, Freethought Party of India)