Teacher suspended for VD Savarkar quiz question moves Kerala High Court for relief

The Kerala High Court on Thursday sought the State government's response to school teacher's plea challenging his suspension over a quiz question that named VD Savarkar as a freedom fighter who received the maximum punishment from the British.

The petition has been filed by Guruprasad Rai K, who had framed the question. Rai has urged the Court to quash the suspension order against him. He has also sought a stay on the suspension order until the Court decides on his plea.

Justice Viju Abraham briefly took up the matter today, when the State's counsel was asked to get instructions.

“For such issue, should there be a suspension is the question … You can go on with the disciplinary proceedings… but can suspension be a punishment (in such matters)?" Justice Viju Abraham asked during the hearing.

The case will be heard next on August 17.

"Government Pleader shall apprise the Court of the specific reasons for which the petitioner was suspended," the Court added in its order.

The matter is tied to a controversy that arose over a school quiz question that glorified VD Savarkar, describing him as the freedom fighter who received the “most severe punishment” from the British.

The question was reportedly prepared for a local school-level quiz in Kasargode. The question asked, “Who was the freedom fighter who received the most punishment from the British?”

The answer given was VD Savarkar. The State's Education Minister later termed this an intentional distortion of history.

The school teacher who prepared the question was suspended on August 9. He has now moved the High Court challenging the move.

The teacher's plea states that his suspension was ordered on the oral instructions of the Education Minister and in violation of the relevant rules.

“The decision of the individual minister cannot be treated as the decision of the state Government and Ext P2 (letter directing suspension) and P3 (suspension order) issued as a result of the decision of the individual minister which are in violation of business rules are void ab- initio and all actions consequent thereto are null and void,” the plea adds.

Rai (the teacher) has further maintained that there was nothing factually wrong with the question and answer in question, and that his suspension was only ordered because the answer was not palatable to a section of society.

"The entire exercise undertaken by the respondents has been based on the feelings of a section of people and not based on any substance. There is no finding either in Ext P2 letter or in Ext P3 order to show that the controverted answer was not the correct answer to the subject question ... Late V.D. Sarvarkar was a freedom fighter known across the country. His arrest and incarceration spanning from 1910 to 1937 is etched in annals of history," he submitted.

The government of India, led by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, had even issued a commemorative postage stamp in honour of Savarkar in May 1970, Rai's plea states.

He has, therefore, challenged his suspension as being politically motivated and liable to be set aside.

The plea has been filed through Advocates KS Bharathan, Aadithyan S Mannali, Ronit Zachariah, Sagith Kumar V, Hemanth H, and S Krishna of M/s Lawyer & Lawyer.