A right-wing group is accused of assaulting the principal of a private school in the Pune region after some parents complained that a CCTV camera had been placed in the girls’ restroom. On Thursday, a video of the event, which happened on Tuesday in the afternoon, went popular on social media. The video footage shows the principal being pursued by a crowd while wearing damaged clothing on the school grounds in the Talegaon Dabhade neighborhood. Although the education department launched an investigation, as of Thursday night, no First Information Report (FIR) had been filed.
In her complaint to the police, a parent claimed that the school had set up a CCTV camera in the restroom for female pupils, led “prayers from the Bible,” and failed to observe Hindu holidays, according to Talegaon MIDC police inspector Ranjit Sawant. “We are looking into the allegations leveled by the parents, and an investigation is going on,” he stated.
Following the claims, Alexander, the principal, reportedly suffered abuse at the hands of right-wing individuals, according to the police. Parent Dipti Kharmale claimed in an interview with PTI that there had been complaints about the school officials pressuring children and “having students move benches from one place to another.” “The principal avoided us every time we brought up the problem. When several parents, including myself, visited the school recently to discuss some concerns, we discovered a CCTV camera in the girls’ restroom, she said.
In addition to alleging that a CCTV camera was installed in the girls’ restroom, Kharmale also complained that pupils were forbidden from participating in Hindu holidays and that a Bible prayer used to be spoken at the school. She made her complaint to the Talegaon MIDC police station on Tuesday. She alleged that if any parent brought up these concerns, the principal and other instructors would bully the youngster.
She suggested that if the school wants to have prayers, it should hold prayers from all major faiths. In the meanwhile, representatives from the state department of education paid a visit to the school to investigate the claims. When I visited the school today, I discovered that the CCTV camera that had been put in a ladies’ restroom had been taken out. S R Walunj, Block Education Officer, said that the workers at the school had acknowledged the installation of the camera. He said that the management asserts they are unaware of who authorized the installation of a camera there.
“I have looked into all of the claims, and I will send a report to the education officer and Commissioner (education) so they can determine what to do next. He said that the education officer had also been to the school.
According to Walunj, the principal left the school after the attack and was alerted by the administration. The administrators of the school declined to comment on the event when approached.
Late in the evening, Commissioner for Education Suraj Mandhare said that because the parents had previously voiced their displeasure with the principal’s behavior, the deputy director for education would look into the matter and appropriate legal action will be taken. Congressman Shashi Tharoor called the occurrence of the attack on the school principal “disgraceful” in the meanwhile. He tweeted that “No decent Hindu behaves like this,” mentioning the right-wing group that is thought to have been responsible for the attack.
