Kolkata, Sep 17 (IANS) A video has gone viral showing a Trinamool Congress leader allegedly assaulting and humiliating the acting headmaster of a state-run school inside the campus in Kakdwip, South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal.

The incident took place at Birendra Vidyaniketan on Tuesday. The accused Trinamool leader said he only put up resistance as the headmaster was trying to beat him.

The clash reportedly broke out over the collection of money from students for school trips. The CCTV footage, shared by the school, showed the acting headmaster, Milankanti Pal, being attacked by the president of the school’s management committee and local Trinamool panchayat member Tridib Barui, asking why money was being collected from students for trips without informing the management committee.

In the video, the Trinamool leader is seen pushing and shoving the headmaster in front of the students.

“The Trinamool leader brought a paper where several false accusations were made against me. He wanted me to sign that document. He said I was collecting money from students without informing the management committee. After I refused to sign the paper, he hit me on the neck. He pushed me outside my office and continued to shove me and hit me,” said the headmaster.

He said he sustained an injury to his hand and neck. He has been admitted to Kakdwip Super-specialty Hospital for treatment.

The Trinamool leader, meanwhile, accused the acting headmaster of the attack and said he acted in self-defence. Tridib Barui said, “He was taking money without informing the management committee. When I went inside his office to show him a receipt, he folded the paper and threw it away. When I picked up the paper and asked him to sign it, he pushed me. He was going to beat me. I was stopping him.”

BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya has condemned the incident. “This terrorism in the state’s education sector is exposing the true face of the Trinamool Congress,” he wrote on his X handle while sharing the CCTV footage that went viral.

After the matter came to light, Kakdwip Trinamool MLA Manturam Pakhira said, “The matter has come to our attention. Everything is being investigated. If the allegations against the president of the management committee, Tridib Barui, are proven, the party will take strong action. The role of the acting headmaster of the school will also be investigated.”

–IANS

sch/skp