College suspends principal, ‘victim’

Ramashankar Shrivastav, principal of Shivam Vidya Mandir and Junior College, Andheri (e), who allegedly molested a colleague for 20 years, was suspended by the college management on Monday. The victim was also suspended.

The management claimed that Shrivastav had been framed by some teachers, who allegedly installed a camera in his cabin. “The college’s reputation is at stake so we suspended Shrivastav and the complainant,” said Kailash Kumari Tiwari, vice-president of the college.

Three other teachers were served memos. “The management suspects that the victim and these three teachers had placed the camera in Shrivastav’s chamber,” said Tiwari.

Shiv Sena members met Lalita Shetty, president of the college. “We don’t see any logic in suspending the victim who has gathered all her guts and filed a complaint,” said Sena activist Bhau Korgaonkar. “They assured us that if they found her telling the truth, she won’t be sacked.”

“The complainant has also written a letter to the committee members. She stated that three teachers were pressurising to her to file a complaint,” said Tiwari.

“We never found anything wrong with Shrivastav. He used to address every teacher as beta.”