Kasaragod: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday stayed the suspension of Kasaragod teacher Guruprasad Rai, who is facing departmental proceedings over a quiz question on V D Savarkar, while allowing the disciplinary inquiry against him to continue.
According to LiveLaw, Justice Viju Abraham said: “I’m inclined to pass an interim order staying the operation of … order of suspension for a period of one month. But I’m permitting the disciplinary proceedings to continue.”
He passed the order while considering a writ petition filed by Rai, a teacher at Aided Upper Primary School, Pallathadka, in Kasaragod’s Badiadka panchayat. According to the teacher, he was suspended only because the quiz for the inter-school competition was prepared under his supervision.
The court had on August 13 declined to grant interim relief and directed the government to explain the specific reasons for his suspension. The latest order temporarily stayed the August 9 suspension order.
Rai was suspended pending an inquiry after a question in a ‘Freedom Quiz’ competition identified Hindutva ideologue Savarkar as the answer to: “Who was the freedom fighter who received the harshest punishment from the British?”
The quiz was conducted by the Social Science Club of the Kumbla education sub-district on August 6 as part of the 80th Independence Day celebrations for schools in the Kumbla and Manjeshwar education sub-districts of Kasaragod.
Rai, the secretary of the Social Science Club in Kumbla sub-district, had challenged the August 9 letter issued by the Director of General Education to the Kasaragod Deputy Director of Education (DDE) directing his suspension, the DDE’s suspension order issued the same day and the charge memo issued by the school manager. He had also sought a stay on further proceedings. The court, however, allowed the department to continue with its inquiry.
The Savarkar question triggered criticism from the UDF and CPM, which accused the teacher of distorting the history of India’s freedom struggle and promoting an RSS agenda among schoolchildren. Following complaints, particularly from Manjeshwar MLA A K M Ashraf, General Education Minister N Samsudheen ordered an inquiry.
The inquiry conducted by Kasaragod DDE Rafeeq concluded that the question was misleading and recommended action against those responsible for preparing the questionnaire.
Rafeeq had said around three teachers were involved in setting the questions for the primary section under the leadership of Rai, who is the secretary of the Social Science Club in the Kumbla education sub-district.
Based on the findings, Director of General Education Snehil Kumar Singh directed the DDE to suspend Rai on August 9. When Minister Samsudheen visited Kasaragod on August 10, he said the inquiry was still underway and that other teachers would also face action if they were found to have been involved in setting the question.
The BJP has rallied behind Rai, arguing that the controversy arose from the wording of the question rather than any deliberate attempt to distort history. BJP district president M L Ashwini said Rai had intended to refer to Savarkar’s long imprisonment in the Andamans but incorrectly framed the question as asking who received the “harshest punishment” from the British.
