Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur

Kundapur, Sep 21: A teacher was allegedly beaten up, threatened and abused by guardians of a student over a petty issue at an anganwady centre in Yaderi of Kaltodu village here on Friday September 19.

Suchitra Shetty (File Photo)

Jalajakshi

Suchitra Shetty, the anganwady teacher, was allegedly beaten up by the guardians for showing 'discrimination' towards their child while distributing 'chikki' (a type of sweet) during mid-day recess.

It is said that Jalajakshi Shedthi and Deepika Shetty, residents of Kaltodu, barged into the anganwady centre even as classes were going on allegedly assaulted Suchitra with brooms. An assistant at the anganwady centre intervened and prevented the situation from worsening further.

The injured teacher was admitted to Kundapur hospital and a case was registered in Byndoor police station.

The anganwady has 14 children, and as per norms, every child has to be given a 10 gram chikki at mid-day. "However, the chikki comes in 15 gram pack, and so we divide it such that each student gets 10 gram, and rest we give randomly to other students. Sometimes, when cutting the chikki, a part of it gets reduced to powder. We definitely did not resort to any discrimination while distributing this sweet. We treat all the children equally as our own," said the anganwady teacher.

Counter complaint

However, Jalajakshi, grandmother of the child, denied beating up the teacher and claimed that it was she who was assaulted. "I did not assault her. There was discrimination against my grandchild in distributing food every day. When I questioned the teacher about this, I was assaulted," she claimed. Jalajakshi too has been admitted to Kundapur hospital and a counter complaint has been filed with the police.

Meanwhile, Kundapur taluk angwady workers' association president Philomena Fernandes arrived at Byndoor police station to take stock of the situation. She said that anganwady workers have no security and condemned the alleged assault on the teacher. "The assault took place during duty hours. The culprits should be stringently punished, if not we will stage a massive protest," she warned. She was accompanied by vice-president of the association Padmavati Shetty and other anganwady workers.