A disciplinary action by a school here against a Class III student threatens to snowball into a religious controversy. The student’s father, Ganesh Ram, a lawyer by profession, has approached the State Human Rights Commission alleging discrimination against his son on religious grounds.
On November 19, Doveton Matric Higher Secondary School here suspended Ram’s son for 10 days and sent him home for coming to the school after applying mehndi (henna). His father says it is a violation of his son’s human rights and has called for revoking the suspension.
“Why should my innocent child be penalised? The mehndi was used because I am going to Sabarimala and on the day of the pooja on the first of the Karthigai month (in the Tamil calender), it is a custom to use ‘mardhani’ (mehndi). My sister put it on him,” an agitated Ram told this website's newspaper.
Confirming the suspension, the school authorities said the boy had been sent home and asked to come back only after the “mehndi has faded out and that principal Ms Petal Theodore had only been doing her duty”.
“There should be discipline at any cost. We have our rules and the principal is being paid to run the school and school means discipline,” they said.
To justify their action, they cited the school handbook which states that boys should not wear long hair and girls should not wear gold ear-rings, nail polish, flowers or mehendi. And the last applied to boys as well.
Ram, on the other hand, says the action is too harsh particularly when the half-yearly exams are scheduled to begin from November 30. He has termed this as “a religious discrimination by a Christian school”. He has also charged that when he pleaded with the principal to revoke the suspension he was abused by her in front of his son.
A month back, about 100 girl students of a primary school in Pune were sent back to their homes when they came to school after applying henna, inviting angry reactions from their parents. Ram, meanwhile, has got his son admitted to another school.
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