In Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, a Shiksha Mitra and the principal of a government school were reportedly booked for "hurting religious emotions" after a video of pupils reciting Muhammad Iqbal's poetry "Lab Pe Aati Hai Dua" at the morning assembly went viral.
The Education Department has also placed Shiksha Mitra Wazeeruddin under investigation and suspended Nahid Siddiqui, the principal of the school.
An FIR was filed against Siddiqui and Wazeeruddin at the Fareedpur police station in response to a complaint made by Sompal Singh Rathore, a local Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) official, who claimed that a "religious prayer" was said at the public school in an effort to convert the children.
Muhammad Iqbal, also known as Allama Iqbal has written the poem “Lab pe Aati hai Dua” in 1902. Iqbal has also written patriotic poems like “Saare Jahaan Se Achccha”.
The VHP official alleged in his police complaint that teachers Nahid Siddiqui and Wazeeruddin were forcing children to repeat prayers using the Muslim way with a purpose to offend Hindu sensibilities, and that the two instructors were doing this in an effort to convert students to Islam.
