Mumbai: No pre-arrest bail to principal over 'casteist remark'

MUMBAI: Observing that the words clearly showed they were used intentionally to humiliate a student as she was a member of a scheduled tribe, a sessions court last week rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Fort-based Government College of Education's principal who allegedly made caste-based remarks against a student over her handwriting.
"The FIR prima facie makes out the case for applicability of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Act. Once this finding is recorded, the anticipatory bail application must be held to be not maintainable and has to be rejected," the court said.
Refusing to grant relief to Urmila Paralikar (27), the court said the remarks were made in public. "The FIR makes it clear that the complainant belongs to Scheduled Tribe, and the applicant (principal) is not a member of Scheduled Tribe or Scheduled Caste...," the court said.
Last month, an FIR was registered at Azad Maidan police station against the principal. The student submitted that on July 24, the principal allegedly entered the classroom, commented on her handwriting and asked her if she was an Adivasi and if teachers from her village taught her this. She allegedly said, "Tomorrow when you become a teacher, will you be delivering lecture to your students in your Adivasi language...?"
It was alleged certain other students were humiliated on caste lines too in front of the classroom. The prosecution alleged the principal had sent a survey link, "Masturbation is healthy, sex before marriage is unhealthy", to humiliate students. It was also alleged on August 4, when the complainant went to the principal's cabin with her friends to request her to change the uniform from jeans to leggings and kurti, she refused and said something that embarrassed her.
The principal denied the allegations and said the entire incident did not disclose any castiest remarks. Her lawyer argued it was a mere conversation between the teacher and student to bring about discipline. It was further submitted the allegations of providing a link was a part of education curriculum for sex education for boys and girls known as psychological counselling.