Subjected to humiliation and torture by select members of his own community and with no assistance from the State Government, Qazi Masum Akhtar a principal of a High Madarsa at Metiabruz area in Kolkata is paying price for preaching nationalism among his students.
Nine months after he was attacked and brutally beaten up by fanatics led by local religious leaders Akhtar is still not being allowed to enter his school. He had asked his students to sing National Anthem which the local religious leaders of his community ruled as sacrilegious and went against the preaching of their Prophet. Refusing to pay heed to local religious leaders he was attacked in March 2015. “I was only following general norms of introducing the National Anthem in my school apart from telling guardians against child marriage,” he said adding repeated petitions made to the police including Police Commissioner, not yielding any result.
When asked as to whether he had approached the Government he said he did. He had petitioned the Police Commissioner but was told to settle things on his own. He was also told that the police will not be able to protect him.