Teacher suspended over 'hurtful' comments on colleague's post in UP

An Urdu teacher at a government primary school in Agra has been suspended for making objectionable comments on his colleague's social media post.

The comments were made last month and the Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA) suspended the teacher on Monday.

Mohammad Ahmad had criticised another teacher Tahira Parveen for putting a 'tilak' on the forehead of a Hindu officer in Aligarh and posting the picture on social media. The photograph had gone viral.

According to BSA Satyendra Kumar Dhaka: "An inquiry was conducted and the decision to suspend the teacher was taken after that."

Parveen said she had shared her photograph on a WhatsApp group comprising teachers. One of the group members, Ahmad, took objection to it and derided her for "following the Hindu religion with happiness".

This was followed by a series of negative comments against her.

Parveen said: "Since I was the only woman teacher there, I was asked to welcome the new block education officer Satish Chandra Mishra by putting a tilak on his forehead. There was nothing wrong in it."