AHMEDABAD, March 29: A Hindu priest was arrested on Wednesday after 30 Indian teenagers were given swords as part of a school graduation ceremony aimed at encouraging them to fight ‘Islamic militancy’.

The students, aged 14 and 15, were given the weapons to ‘empower the Hindu community to fight back against Islamic extremism and Muslim residents’, a police source said.

Police raided the school in an area with a history of clashes between rival communities after school officials ignored demands to halt the graduation ceremony that began five years ago, recovering 33 swords, the source said.

The study of ‘Shastra and Shaastra’ (weapons and scriptures) was part of the curriculum and along with a sword, each student was given four Hindu books.

Temple priest Akshar Prasad was arrested by police, who said they suspected hardline Hindu organisations may have been behind the ceremony in Bhavnagar, a town in Gujarat.—AFP