A 36-year-old father, Mr Rajveer Upadhyay sets a remarkable example of secularism by accomplishing a secular school leaving certificate for his daughter Akansha.
Akansha, a 13-year-old girl is a student in class 7, she received an SLC last week, with no mention of either religion or caste. This is perhaps one of the first instances, that an SLC does not mention caste or creed. A photo of the certificate was viral on twitter. Many tweets applauded the father’s effort and said it was an important victory.
the SLC without any mention of religion or caste.
Had to run from pillar to post, to receive this certificate:
The father fought relentlessly so that his daughter’s school pay heed to his request.
He had to make innumerable representations and applications to the Ahmedabad district collector and the Chief Minister of Gujarat. Mr Rajveer waged a lone battle against the system and came out victorious. He received the certificate well on time with the cooperation of school authorities, as per the Times of India report.
While making representations, he had cited an example of Tamil Nadu lawyer, identified as only Sneha, without any surname. Mr Rajveer in his representations stressed that Sneha had in 2019 got her caste and religion removed from all the government documents with the help of authorities. “As per the Indian Constitution, I have the fundamental right to be secular, and I do not need any religion or caste to live my life,” he said.
In the year 2017, Mr Rajveer had filed a plea requesting the authorities to recognise him as an atheist and allow him to change his name to ‘RV155677820’, an amalgamation of his name Rajveer and the enrollment number on his school-leaving certificate.
‘’I am a rationalist and secular person and this is a secular country. The law of the country should give me the right to be known as an atheist. If I write my name and surname, people will know my religion and caste but I do not want my identity to be shrunk to the narrow confines of religion and caste,’’ he has said.
However, his plea regarding name change was rejected by the district authorities in 2017. Though he continued his battle and challenged the gazette officer order and filed a plea in Gujarat Highcourt in 2019, requesting the status of an atheist. Currently, he is pursuing his Masters in Clinical Psychology from IGNOU.
His achievement would pave a way for many with staunch secular beliefs and will for a secular status on certificates.
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