Hyderabad, July 16: A controversy erupted at a private school in Hyderabad following an allegation that a Hindu student of Class 2 was assigned Islamic religious verses as homework.

The student was asked to recite ‘Kalima’ and ‘Sura Fatiha’. The incident occurred at a school in the Saidabad area.

The parents of the student confronted the school management, questioning the appropriateness of such an act within an academic environment.

The parents lodged their protest with the management of ‘Success’ school and demanded action against the teacher involved.

Following the protest, the school management sacked the teacher. She has been permanently disqualified from applying for employment in future in the ‘Success’ group of educational institutions.

According to the parents, the teacher had given the homework on July 15. “Read Sura Fatiha”, mentioned in the school diary under the subject ‘Deeniyath’. Earlier on July 11, the teacher had written ‘Read Kalima’, but the same was struck off by the teacher, apparently after realising that the subject did not apply to the non-Muslim student.

According to the school management, almost all the students in the school are Muslims, and they have the subject of ‘Deeniyath’ or Islamic teaching. However, the subject is not taught to non-Muslim students.

‘Kalima’ is the Islamic declaration of faith and testimony, while ‘Surah Fatiha’ is the first chapter of the Holy Quran.

The management clarified that it was an inadvertent mistake, but they still took the action of terminating the services of the teacher.

Meanwhile, independent MLA T. Raja Singh Lodh condemned the incident. He said it was deeply shameful that a Class 2 student was allegedly pressured by the school management to recite the Kalma.

“This is not the first such case in Telangana; there have been several similar incidents in the past. Yesterday, when the parents of the child went to the school and questioned the management about how they could pressure their Hindu child to recite the Kalma, the school authorities had no answer,” he said

He demanded that Chief Minister Revanth Reddy take action against schools which are forcing Hindu children to recite ‘Kalma’.

The former BJP MLA questioned the silence of AIMIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi on the issue.

New Delhi, July 16: The Centre has raised windfall taxes on exports of diesel and aviation turbine fuel (ATF) while lowering the levy on petrol exports, as surging global oil prices driven by the escalating US-Iran conflict boosted refining margins, with the revised rates taking effect from Thursday.

According to a Finance Ministry notification, the export duty on diesel has been increased to Rs 15.5 per litre from Rs 8.5 per litre, while the levy on aviation turbine fuel has been raised to Rs 14.5 per litre from Rs 7.5 per litre.

At the same time, the government has reduced the export duty on petrol to Rs 2.5 per litre from Rs 4 per litre.

The revised rates came into effect from July 16, according to the notification.

The latest revision comes amid a sharp rise in global crude oil prices following an escalation in hostilities between the United States and Iran.

Oil prices climbed on Wednesday before easing slightly after US President Donald Trump reimposed a naval blockade on all Iranian ports, prompting Iran to launch retaliatory strikes on US infrastructure in the region.

Earlier this month, the government had revised the windfall tax on exports of petroleum products by raising the levy on petrol while reducing the duties on diesel and aviation turbine fuel.

The Special Additional Excise Duty (SAED) on petrol exports was increased to Rs 4 per litre from Rs 1.5 per litre. At the same time, the export duty on diesel was reduced to Rs 8.5 per litre from Rs 14 per litre, while the levy on ATF exports was cut to Rs 7.5 per litre from Rs 12.5 per litre.

The government reviews windfall taxes on domestically produced crude oil and exports of petroleum products at regular intervals to align the levies with changes in international crude prices and refining margins.

Lalitpur (Uttar Pradesh), July 16: In a shocking incident of betrayal and sexual assault reported from Uttar Pradesh’s Lalitpur district, a 19-year-old woman was abducted by a man who she was allegedly in a relationship for the last four years and gangraped by him and his friends in a moving car, police said on Thursday.

Speaking on the case, Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Kalu Singh said: “The victim had been in a relationship with the accused, Badal Raja, for the past four years and preliminary investigation suggests she had accompanied him voluntarily.”

According to officials, the victim’s mother lodged a complaint with the police, alleging that her daughter was forcibly taken away in a car by a local resident, Badal Raja, along with two of his associates.

The complainant stated that the distraught victim managed to call her sister during the horrific incident and sought help from her family.

Following the call, her family launched a desperate search for her and found her in a distressed condition near the railway station and took her to the police station.

Based on the complaint, the police registered an FIR and formed a special team to investigate the case.

During the course of investigation, police arrested two of the accused. A third unidentified accused was later apprehended during a police encounter, in which he sustained a bullet injury to his leg. He is currently undergoing treatment at a hospital.

Investigators said to have recovered a .315 bore country-made pistol, one empty cartridge, one live cartridge, a mobile phone, a bottle of liquor, and a car from the accused during the encounter.

The police said the accused will be produced before the court based on the available evidence.

Further investigation in the case is underway.

In yet another crime against girls and women in UP, a seven-year-old girl was found dead in the basement of an under-construction mall in Ghaziabad’s Raj Nagar Extension.

She had been befriended by one of the accused, who often played with her and her brothers and gave them chocolates, chips and toffees to gain their trust.

The child’s body was recovered during the early hours of Saturday from the basement of the building. A post-mortem examination confirmed that she was raped before her death and died due to a head injury. Police have registered an FIR based on a complaint filed by the family.