A video of the attack was widely shared on social media. ScreengrabKottayam: A school manager and his brother were arrested in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday for assaulting a TV journalist and breaking his camera while trying to cover a teacher's sad plight.
Rijas, who works as a stringer for a prominent Malayalam news channel, was attacked by M. Sajeeb, manager of Janatha Higher Secondary School, Thempammood, near Venjaramood and his brother Mujeeb in front of children on Wednesday. Mujeeb too is a teacher at the school. Rijas was at the school to report an incident in which Seena Rajendran, a teacher at the school, was allegedly denied the right to work. Rijas suffered injuries to the hand. The school manager is seen destroying the video camera as well.
Both Sajeeb and Mujeeb were later arrested by the police on complaints filed by the cameraman and Seena.
Seena, a teacher with 17 years of service, said she was at the school with a high court order stating that she should be allowed to work, but the management refused to obey the order.
The issues started last June when Sajeeb began to harass Seena by not allocating classes to her. He also blocked her salary though there was no complaint against her.
Seena alleged that the management wanted her out of the school to appoint a relative in a senior post to which she is entitled to be promoted.
“Seena challenged the undeclared suspension in a complaint to the DEO. The DEO visited the school on January 6 and ordered the management to let her continue work. the DEO also ordered payment of her withheld salary. However, the management did not comply with the order prompting Seena to move the high court. The court also pronounced its verdict in her favor,” her husband told Onmanorama over phone from Thiruvananthapuram.
“Seena went to the school on Wednesday with a copy of the court order and waited till 3.30 pm. By then, the TV cameraman came to the school. Provoked to see the camera, Sajeeb and Mujeeb attacked the journalist and tried to manhandle Seena following which she fell swooned,” he said.
A.V. Indulal, general secretary, Kerala Aided Teachers Association, told Onmanorama that Seena had been facing harassment from the management in the past 10 months. He said it was not an isolated case. "Similar incidents have happened in the school earlier too. We are going to take legal action against the management," he said.
He said this was only one of the many incidents of managements' high-handedness against teachers. Reiterating his organizations' long-term demand, Indulal said the managements' power to punish staff must be revoked at the earliest. “The government is paying the salary. Let the government take disciplinary action if need be," he said.
The school management could not be contacted for comment despite repeated attempts.
