Ravishankar on govt schools: Court fixes April 2 for hearing

Jaipur, Mar 22: A local court today fixed April 2 as the next date for hearing on a complaint, seeking direction to police to lodge FIR against spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar for his remarks alleging government schools to be breeding grounds for Naxalism.

The complaint was filed yesterday in the court. Lawyers Surendra Dhaka, J P Sharma and Manu Pancholi filed the complaint which was accepted today. The court of Metropolitan Magistrate Sanganer Dharm Raj Meena fixed April 2 as the next date of hearing.

Addressing a function at a school near Jaipur last evening, Ravishankar said government should privatise education and close state-run schools as they breed Naxals. "Government ko koi school nahi chalana chahiye. Aksar paya jata hai ki government school se padhe hue bacche hi is tarha naxalvad me hinsa ke marg me chale jate hai"(Government should not run any school. It is often found that boys studied in government schools go into Naxalism and violence).

His comments invited wrath of educationists and politicians. The complaint sought court's direction for police to lodge an FIR against Ravishankar under relevant sections of IPC. However, he later claimed that he did not generalise and gave the statement only in reference to sick government schools in Naxal affected areas of the country.

PTI