Teachers detained in Baramulla for allegedly glorifying militancy

Thirteen teachers of a private school in north Kashmir’s Baramulla town were detained last week for allegedly ‘glorifying militancy’ and motivating students to become militants.

Videos doing the rounds on social media showed 13–14-year-old boys being encouraged to act as militants somewhere in the forests of Zandafaran, where they had gone for a school excursion in the first week of July.

As some boys played songs eulogising death, some students act as militants, ready to carry out an attack.

The school management refused to talk on the matter. Chief education officer, Baramulla, Abdul Ahmad Gani told KP that he will get the matter investigated and “stern action will be taken against the school management”.

Police took action as soon as the videos went viral on social media.

Though these are mock videos, police officials said these acts could ‘brainwash’ the boys to become militants in the future.

‘This shows how some teachers with vested interests whose mandate is to turn young boys into disciplined students encouraged them to take guns,” said a police officer on condition of anonymity.

Police let go of 11 of the teachers on Sunday after stern warning and intervention of some elders, according to sources. Objectionable material was recovered from the two in custody. One of them is the one who shot the video, they said.

Baramulla SSP, Imtiyaz Hussain refused to divulge further information about the incident.

The private school has more than 200 students on roll. Sources said that parents, most of whom are from poor families, expressed shock over these videos and sought the intervention of administration.

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