New Delhi: A private school in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore organised separate annual functions for Hindu and Muslim students, with parents of Muslim students also highlighting other instances of alleged religion-based segregation in the school, reported Newslaundry.As per the Newslaundry report, the International School of Bombay in Khajrana held separate annual functions on February 2 and 3 for the two different groups. Muslim parents told the portal that it was only after reaching the venue that they realised that the event was only for Muslim students and they were not informed beforehand.“There were only Muslim students and their parents. There was limited staff, and they didn’t even invite any chief guest. The very next day, they held a function for Hindu students, where all the staff were present and a chief guest was also invited,” Mir Gulrez Ali, whose son studies in Class 10 in the school told Newslaundry.“They tried to give a lame excuse, saying it was because of Shab-e-Baraat. They could have arranged the function on another date… First they discriminate, and then they come up with such idiotic excuses. I have never heard of anything like this in any school,” he added.Rubeena Khan, a local Congress corporator who met the school management to talk about the issue, said that she was informed that the school had also made separate seating arrangements for Muslim and Hindu students inside classrooms as well.“We held the annual function on two separate days because Shab-e-Baraat was being observed on February 3. We felt Muslim students might not be able to attend the event that day, so we organised a separate function for them on February 2. We conduct the annual function every year on a fixed date. That is why we did not shift it,” said Joy Joseph, the admission officer of the school.However, parents and relatives of students alleged that the school has engaged in discriminatory practices in the past as well.“Last year as well, the school indulged in a discriminatory practice. In the school’s annual magazine, they printed only the first names of Muslim students, while the full names of Hindu students were published…Parents strongly objected to this, after which the school was forced to make changes,” Syed Qasim Ali, whose nephew studies in the school and who has filed a complaint through the CM Helpline told Newslaundry.