Principal accused of Islamophobia

The Thane police is investigating complaints against the principal of St John’s School, Thane, for allegedly making derogatory remarks against a Muslim student and terming an intern Muslim teacher a terrorist for wearing a burqa. The police said action under the Indian Penal Code would be initiated against the principal only if the allegations against him were confirmed.

According to Javed Shaikh, vice-president of Thane unit of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS),Fr Michael Pinto was guilty of passing derogatory remarks against Muslim students in the past but on Monday when an intern teacher Sanad Shaikh reported for duty clad in a burqa, he chided her for being conservative and said she looked like a terrorist. “Sanad is my cousin and when she narrated the offensive remarks made by Pinto after returning home from school we decided to lodge a complaint against him. As news of the remarks spread, a parent, Aseem Shaikh, also came forward and revealed that three days ago Fr Pinto had accused his son of being part of the community that shoots people in cold blood while referring to the recent Dhaka shootings that left 20 people dead,” said Mr Shaikh.

He added that Fr Pinto had been accused of similar actions last year but the issue had been amicably resolved after the intervention of some local elders. “The school management had assured that he would not be making such comments again, but a year later he started again. As Pinto has regularly hurt the sentiments of Muslim students we decided to lodge a complaint against him to put a permanent end to his ways,” said Mr Shaikh. He added that the president of the MNS’s Thane unit, Avinash Jadhav, had accompanied the complainants to the police station.

Abhishek Trimukhe DCP Zone 1 of Thane said, “We have initiated an inquiry against the school and the principal. We have to take the statements of school children and others.”

On being contacted on Monday evening, Deepak Dias, an official of the school, said a comment would be made only after the conclusion of a meeting held by the management to discuss the issue. The school, on being contacted on Tuesday for a response, did not answer phone calls or reply to a text message.