Headscarf Row: School Principal Suspended

Nabala who was expelled from school for waering headscarf

Alappuzha: Unable to withstand the mounting pressure from the agitators, the management of Believers'

Church English Medium School at Gurupuram, seceded to suspend the principal who expelled a Muslim girl student for wearing a headscarf. However, the parents of the student have refused to accept the suspension and have threatened to move court if the principal was not sacked.

Church English Medium School at Gurupuram, seceded to suspend the principal who expelled a Muslim girl student for wearing a headscarf. However, the parents of the student have refused to accept the suspension and have threatened to move court if the principal was not sacked.

Believers' Church Kerala secretary Fr. Williams informed the decision to suspend the principal at a meeting convened to sort out the issue here on Friday by District Collector P. Venugopal. Fr. Williams said the church authorities did not know about the issue of the transfer certificate and that they were not informed about it at any stage.

Apart from suspending the principal, Mary Jessintha, the Education Committee of the church was conducting a separate inquiry and, if need be, further punitive action would be initiated. The church would also cooperate with any probe by the government and had in fact demanded that an officer of IG rank should conduct an inquiry, he added.

However, Nazir Musaliar, father of the student, said the principal's act was in violation of fundamental rights guaranteed by our constitution and that a mere suspension was not enough. “She should be sacked, a criminal case should be initiated against her and she should be jailed. If they do not do it, we will file a case in the court and see that she gets apt punishment,” he told reporters.

Mr. Nazir also said he did not intend to send his daughter to the same school, though the school management had agreed to take her back. He wanted to send her to Crescent school, another CBSE school in Mannancherry. The Collector had allowed time till Monday to take a decision, he said.