Pune, July 6: An incident has taken place where some members of the Hindutva organization assaulted a principal of a school in Pune with his shirt flowing.
Members of a Hindutva organization attacked the principal of a school in Maharashtra’s Pune district for allegedly forcing students to sing Christian prayers and installing a closed-circuit television camera in the corridor between the girls’ and boys’ washrooms, police said.
A video widely shared on social media shows Alexander Coates Reed, principal of DY Patil High School in Pune’s Talegaon Dabhade town, being chased by a mob shouting “Har Har Mahadev”.
The principal is seen running up the steps of the Reed building in a torn shirt. At this time a person in the group attacked him. But others stopped him. Talegaon MIDC Area Police Inspector Ranjit Sawant said that some parents joined a group belonging to the Hindutva organization and attacked Reed and tore his clothes.
Alexander Reid, Principal, DY Patil English High School, Ambi, was allegedly beaten up by B,ajrang goons for conducting Christian prayer ‘Our Father who art in Heaven’, every morning in school prayer. Several Hindu schools ask the students to utter veds, that never 1/2 pic.twitter.com/EgDKaflRu4
— Брат (@B5001001101) July 6, 2023
Closed-circuit television cameras, which Hindutva organizations objected to, are not inside the cubicles. Instead it is on the outside route,” said Sawant. Students were urged to sing the Christ prayer every morning. It is a common prayer that begins with ‘O Lord’. This is a verse from the Bible. But he said there was no hint of conversion or anything from the Bible in the prayer.
Based on the application filed by the parents, the authorities are investigating the matter. The school has not registered a complaint, the police inspector said, adding that we can take preventive action against those who assaulted the principal.
