In a condemnable incident, a 42-year-old principal was chased and brutally beaten up by a bunch of minor boys on 27th January (Tuesday) at Saraswati Shishu Vidya Mandir, a branch of RSS’s Vidhya Bharti, at Aliyabad village in Bilari area of the Moradabad district in Uttar Pradesh.
As per reports, the incident happened after some villagers alleged that the school principal, Ashok Kumar Suryavanshi, tore a photo of Ambedkar pasted on a wall and used objectionable language for Dalit students. A mob of minor boys entered the school premises on Tuesday morning, around 8:30 am. Principal Ashok Kumar Suryavanshi, who lives in the residential quarters located on the school premises, was sitting in his office at the time.
The angry mob hurled abuses at Suryavanshi and accused him of tearing the photo of Ambedkar pasted on a wall. Suryavanshi explained to them that the corner of Ambedkar’s photograph was not torn but had come loose from the wall and was bent. However, the mob refused to listen to the principal, slammed him to the ground and brutally thrashed him.
It is reported that the attackers were not students at the school. They also robbed ₹35,550 from Suryavanshi’s pocket. Some school teachers tried to intervene, but they were overpowered by the mob. When people from the neighbourhood gathered at the scene, the culprits threatened to kill Suryavanshi and fled. The Principal denied the allegations.
After the incident, a meeting was held at the school between Vidya Bharati teachers and RSS functionaries. They condemned the attack on the principal and accused the local police of failing to take action against the culprits for three days. “Till Jan 29, no action was taken by the police. On Thursday, a meeting was held by a group of principals of Saraswati Shishu Mandir schools and RSS members. Later, we came to know that a few minors have been detained,” Suryavanshi said on (30th January).
The detention of some of the attackers was confirmed by Sumit Kumar, district president of Azad Samaj Party. He told The Times of India on 30th January that five of the minor culprits were detained by the police on 29th January. An FIR was filed by the police at the Dilari police station. According to SP Rural, Kumar Akash Singh, based on the complaint of Suryavanshi, an FIR was registered against seven named individuals and 25 unknown persons. Some Police personnel were subsequently deployed at the school to maintain peace.
