Meer Irfan
Early on Friday, the social media was abuzz with a shocking headline “Failing to pay the fee, students “forced to stand barefoot on frozen snow” in Kulgam” and the social media went berserk expressing the horror on this unempathetic incident. While the news went viral, comments about the deplorable act of the perpetrator flooded various social media sites.
In this video, which was also posted by various news organizations a teacher was blamed for making the students stand bare feet in the snow.
The Kashmiriyat however, fact-checked the news after talking to the students, teachers, eyewitnesses, the Police and found the news to be a distortion of actual facts having taken place in the Puhloo area of Kulgam in South Kashmir’s Kulgam district.
Our Reporter Meer Irfan spoke to some of the students from the said Institute who said “There was no case of retribution for unpaid fees. This whole incident was planned by a few people. They assembled here in the morning and started beating our principal. Then gathered in the yard and staged the whole video at the behest of a person who has some personal vendetta against our principal.”
Masntasha, a student of the A-one institute said, “There is no issue about fees, this is all a defamation campaign against our teacher, we have been here from the past 12 years, we have never seen him punishing any student,”
The students also vouched for their principal’s discipline and said that he has never been the one for harsh punishment or even has a stick around to discipline us. We revere him as we do our fathers. He is our guide and would never behave in this manner.
“This is all malicious campaign against the teacher run on behest of one powerful person who asked the students to stand on the snow and captured a video of the same and sent it across to media men who circulated the video. He also misbehaved with the teachers and also engaged in a physical fight with the staff of the coaching center,” an eyewitness told The Kashmiriyat.
Another student said, “the accused (Mohammed Ashraf) is a polite teacher, he is the best teacher in the school and makes sure that every student is keenly looked after. He has ensured that education is availed to us even in the rural area like ours, otherwise, it otherwise would be very difficult for us to travel to townships for tuitions.”
The Principal (accused) said that the news is baseless and is just the making of some malicious people who have personal grudges against him.
The Kashmiriyat also spoke to a Police officer on this case who confirmed that a case has been registered against the principal but the preliminary reports suggest it to be a case of personal rivalry and malice.
Sources in the Jammu Kashmir Police said that that social media makes the story viral without fact-checking it and confirming the details on the ground which mounted pressure on the Police.