Gopalganj, March 10: District magistrate Pankaj Kumar Pal would have ended up with a swollen face from an intermediate college principal’s slap had it not been for the timely intervention of a woman constable.

The principal of Mahendra Mahila College, Madhuprabha Devi, 40, has landed in jail for trying to slap the DM when intermediate examinations were on.

Pal told The Telegraph: “I would have been hurt. The principal would have slapped me had the woman constable (Israt Jahan) not caught her hand in time. I have lodged a case of subversion of official duty and provoking students against the law enforcing agency with the police station concerned. She has been arrested and sent to jail.”

Pal had gone to the college where intermediate examinations were on. Apart from the sub-divisional officer and deputy superintendent of police, two lady constables also accompanied him on the inspection tour as the centre only had girl students.

Pal summoned Madhuprabha when he saw the students openly resorting to unfair means. “Madhuprabha lost her cool and tried to slap me when I asked her about the unfair means being resorted to at her centre. She started shouting and provoking the examinees against me. In the mean time, Israt caught hold of her hand and rescued me,” he said.

The incident, however, has taken a political turn with the National Students’ Union of India, the student wing of the Congress, and the RJD student wing staging a demonstration to protest against the principal’s arrest and demanding her immediate release. The teachers’ body also organised an emergency meeting to demand Madhuprabha’s immediate release.

The students’ and teachers’ bodies alleged the DM tried to “misbehave” with the principal. The students and teachers’ body have also threatened to boycott the examinations.

Pal has the reputation of being a strict officer. He had expelled a girl examinee when he found her cheating during the matriculation examination that preceded the intermediate examination despite her plea that she would commit suicide. The girl did carry out her threat.

Madhuprabha, on the other hand, figures in the list of 20 principals facing lawsuits in Patna High Court against alleged irregularities in their appointment. She was a Hindi professor before being promoted as principal.