Kanpur: Mob assaults teacher, locks cattle in school

KANPUR: Stray cattle menace again triggered mob violence in UP’s Auraiya on Saturday when a school teacher was assaulted by farmers when he tried to stop them from locking up the herd on campus while classes were underway. Students in Dakhilpur village school were forcibly evicted, cows bundled inside the classroom and doors bolted. An FIR was lodged with Phahphoond police after the assault.
In his complaint, Tara Chandra, principal of Poorva Madhyamik Vidyalaya, Dakhlipur, said classes were on when a group of farmers armed with sticks stormed the campus with a herd of cows.A few in the mob even barged into the principal’s office and one of the teachers, Yogendra Singh, faced mob fury. “When other teachers tried to save him, farmers threatened them. Then students were ordered to leave the school premises and the principal’s office was ransacked,” the FIR stated.
Some teachers and staff locked themselves in a classroom till farmers left the campus. It was only after police reached the campus that the teachers came out of hiding.
District president Prathmik Shikshak Sangh, Akhilesh Chandra, demanded security for teachers and students at schools and threatened to shut schools in the district if appropriate measures were not put in place.
This is not the first case of farmers locking stray cattle inside a school campus to stop them from destroying their crop. Recently, farmers fought a pitched battle with police in Bidhnoo area (Kanpur).
In charge of the Phahphoond police station inspector Dinesh Kumar told TOI that an FIR has been lodged against eight people. But no arrests were made till late Saturday night.