The principal of a primary school in Lakhimpur Kheri on Friday beat up a part-time lady teacher with a shoe.

The teacher (Shiksha Mitra) of Mahgukhera Primary School, in her complaint with senior officers of the education department and the local police, has said: “Ajit Kumar asked me why I was half an hour late to the school when I reached there at 10.30am. While I was telling him that I had left home on time but was stuck in traffic, he picked up his shoe and started hitting me with it.”

Interacting with local reporters, she added: “The principal didn’t want me to work there. He wanted his own candidate when I was posted there two years ago. Since then, he has been misbehaving with me. However, I used to ignore him.”

A staff of the school, on the condition of anonymity, told reporters that Kumar didn’t behave properly with students or teachers. “He is so powerful that we normally don’t react. However, we saved the woman shiksha mitra when the principal kept hitting her for two-three minutes.”

Denying the allegations, Kumar said: “The fact is that she attacked me and slapped me many times. I was trying to save myself.”

However, a video that has surfaced shows a person resembling Kumar beating a woman, who looks like the Shiksha Mitra, with his shoe. As a man in white trousers and shirt comes in between and holds the principal while the woman is seen picking up something from the table and making a failed attempt to hit Kumar.

Lakshmi Kant Pandey, basic education officer of Lakhimpur Kheri, said: “We have suspended the principal and are conducting an inquiry to understand the problem.”

Local police inspector Pramod Kumar Mishra said both the sides had filed complaints against each other. “We are conducting a probe.”

The Shiksha Mitra said: “The principal enjoys good relations with the local police and they gave him the idea to file a counter complaint. But the video and many witnesses will speak the truth.”