Click here to join Express Pune WhatsApp channel and get a curated list of our stories
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Around noon on July 4, a group of workers from the VHP and Bajrang Dal, accompanied by several parents of students from the DY Patil High School at Ambi near Talegaon town of Pune, reached the institution with two main complaints: the installation of a CCTV camera in the washroom area for girls studying in Classes 8-12 and alleged recital in the school of a Christian prayer but not of other faiths.
What unfolded minutes later, according to a preliminary police probe, was captured in a video clip: it showed a mob chanting slogans as they chased and attacked school principal Alexander Coates Reid as he ran from them on the school campus with his clothes torn.
Reid and the school administration have not approached the police with a complaint until late Thursday, according to Inspector Ranjit Sawant, incharge of Talegaon MIDC police station.
Despite multiple attempts, neither Reid nor any official from the school or the DY Patil Technical Campus could be reached for comment. Speaking to The Indian Express, Pastor Rajesh Kelkar, the head of an inter-denomination church group, said he spoke to Reid following the incident, and again on Thursday evening “to offer legal support”. Kelkar, who heads Christian Forum in Pimpri-Chinchwad, said the principal “felt totally humiliated at the manner in which he was assaulted”.
“It is not correct to take the law into one’s hands… We appeal to the management and the principal to file a complaint (against the attackers)… Also, why is a simple prayer that does not take the name of any God but is recited in English being coloured to make it sound as if it is an attempt at conversion,” Kelkar said.
Sources close to the principal said he had the “full backing” of the management.
With the issue escalating, the school informed parents that it will remain closed from July 6 until further notice. The school has nearly 900 students.
When contacted, Somnath Dabhade, an office-bearer of the VHP’s Pune unit, said, “After several parents approached us, we went to the school with two main demands. One was to remove the CCTV camera installed inside the girls’ bathroom and take strict action against those responsible for installing it. Second was about a prayer from the Bible that the school makes students recite. ”
Dabhade said the students were made to recite “Our father in heaven, hallowed be your name.”
Sandesh Bhegde, Bajrang Dal co-convener for Western Maharashtra, said, “After getting no response from the administration, we waited for the principal to arrive. When he came, we gheraoed him.” Maharashtra Education Commissioner Suraj Mandhare told The Indian Express that the Deputy Director’s office will also probe the incident.
(With Partha Sarathi Biswas)
