Rashtra Jyoti has formally moved the National Human Rights Commission in a serious case involving allegations of targeted religious hate and discrimination, and conversion pressure faced by Hindu women employed as sweepers at a Missionary-run school
The complaint was addressed to NHRC Member Shri Priyank Kanoongo, seeking urgent intervention into the alleged conduct of the school principal, Ms. Rubina Lawrence, and the larger pattern of discrimination reported by the women workers at Salem English School, Raipur.
Kanoongo took cognisance of the complaint and announced it on social media.
According to statements made by the women on camera, they were allegedly subjected to repeated insults against their Hindu faith while also being denied timely payment of salaries and benefits.
The women have alleged that they were told to convert to Christianity or leave their jobs. One woman said that if they did not convert, they would be harassed to such an extent that they would be forced to quit.
Another alleged that salaries were not paid on time and that even PF had not been provided for two years.
The women, who are engaged in sanitation work including toilet cleaning, also alleged that their Hindu customs were openly mocked. One of them stated that when she lit diyas, it was dismissed as “Hindu jaadu tona”, and that Hindu practices were insulted in a derogatory manner.
Another woman said that they were made to “cry tears of blood” during Diwali and were allegedly told that if they converted, their salaries would be released. The women eventually reached Civil Lines Police Station this week and demanded action, while also stating that they no longer wanted the current principal to continue.
In its complaint, Rashtra Jyoti has highlighted that these allegations, if true, point to a grave combination of religious hate speech, workplace discrimination, vulnerability, salary withholding, and coercive conversion pressure.
As reported, many of the women belong to the Valmiki Scheduled Caste community of Hindus, making the matter even more serious because it involves socially and economically vulnerable workers allegedly being targeted within an institutional setting.
Rashtra Jyoti has told the NHRC that a school – especially one entrusted with educational and moral responsibilities – cannot be allowed to function as a site of religious hate and coercion to convert.
We have urged the Commission to take immediate cognisance, seek a report from the relevant authorities, and ensure accountability in the matter.
The complaint further calls for broader recommendations to prevent religious coercion, discriminatory abuse and exploitation of vulnerable Hindu workers in church-run establishments.
Here is a post by Rashtra Jyoti:
About Rashtra Jyoti’s project of Ending Unlawful Conversions
Rashtra Jyoti – run by eminent journalist-activist Swati Goel Sharma and Vedic Sanskrit scholar and IIT-IIM alumnus Sanjeev Newar, envisions a Bharat where very child, woman, orphan, dalit, tribal, or any vulnerable isolated individual or family can live, learn, grow, and prosper without being targeted, trapped or uprooted from their civilisational identity.
We seek a complete end to conversions by inducement, fear, miracle-cure fraud, lies, denigration of native culture, grooming, document manipulation, identity pressure etc. If you come across any case where intervention is needed, write to us at office@rashtrajyoti.com.
