Bengaluru: Yet another Baldwin institution in the city has come under cloud and this time a parent has alleged that he along with his wife were manhandled and abused by the Principal and some staff members for raising concern about students’ safety.
The complainant, Sandeep B.C., a Koramangala resident and father of a first standard student of Baldwin Boys’ High School said the incident happened after he once witnessed students aged 4 to 6 weeping in front of the school gates, as they were stopped for reaching late.
In a letter addressed to Primary and Secondary Education Minister N. Mahesh, he stated, “The students were helplessly pleading the security personnel to allow them in as their transporter left after dropping them at school. When I got to know that they had been kept at the gate for a long time, I requested the school administration to let them in, but they declined citing rules. Seeing no other way out, I dialled 100 for help. The patrolling policemen came and they ensured they were let inside.”
He, however, added, “What followed was most shocking. Immediately, a staff member told me to come to the principal’s office and a phone call was made to my wife, who was at home, to immediately reach the school. Within 20-25 minutes, she reached the school. After she was inside the chambers of the Principal, Antony D’Souza, more than eight staff of the school barged in and started abusing me and my wife in filthy language. They snatched our mobile phones and damaged it, started manhandling me.”
He added that the couple had to plead to be let out of the principal’s chamber, after being confined for more than an hour.
“The principal then got very furious, he started manhandling me by holding my neck and abused in filthy language. My wife was hit and pushed hard to one corner of the room. The school authorities then called the police,” he narrated.
The couple alleged that the policemen from Ashok Nagar police station threatened to book them with a false case, instead of helping them. However, when Deccan Chronicle tried contacted the school authorities for a reaction, an official refused to comment termed the incident as a “false allegation to defame the school”.
