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Vadodara: Raising serious questions on the security and safety of teachers at the campus, a student slapped a young temporary teaching assistant of M S University’s Faculty of Arts on Monday.

According to officials, a group of teachers of the faculty were on their way out of coffee house located near Hansa Mehta Library adjacent to the Faculty of Arts on Monday afternoon.

Just when the teachers were moving out of the premises, a student banged into them after which coffee spilled over on the dress of a lady teacher.

Pradeep Vegad, a male teacher of the Department of Political Science, asked the student to at least show some courtesy and apologise to the female teacher. But instead of tendering any apology, the student entered into heated arguments with the group and started slapping Vegad.

The student slapped the teacher multiple times before leaving the spot.

“When the misbehaviour with the teacher was brought to my notice, I immediately informed the university’s vigilance staff,” said professor K Krishnan, officiating dean of Faculty of Arts.

“We are checking the CCTV footage of the time and we have come to know that the student belongs to Faculty of Science. While we will continue our efforts to identify the student, university will take serious action against the student,” said P P Kanani, head of university’s vigilance staff.

MSU officials too said that they will take strict action against the student who might even get rusticated for insulting and misbehaving with a teacher.

“We will certainly not tolerate this kind of incidents which are of serious nature. I am told that the student has fled from the spot. We are trying to locate him and I have also asked dean of Faculty of Arts to submit a small report. We will follow it up with strict action,” said MSU vice-chancellor professor Parimal Vyas. The university however has not filed any police complaint regarding the incident. While Krishnan told TOI that university’s security may file a police complaint after completing its inquiry, Kanani said that the vigilance staff cannot file a complaint on behalf of the victim.

