Recounting the incident, Principal Fr Jerome Lobo said the list of students selected for junior kindergarten was put up in the notice board today. ``We had received 351 applications, of which we can accommodate only 120,'' he told Express Newsline.

``After the list was put up, the local Sena pramukh, Shailesh Parab, said that among all the students admitted only three were Marathi-speaking people. He spoke very roughly with me,'' Fr Lobo said. Refuting the claim, he said: ``We have followed all the guidelines regarding admissions.''

However, brushing the principal's reasoning aside, Parab threatened to take out a demonstration atthe school. ``Keeping the Sacred Heart incident in mind, I personally went and complained to the Meghwadi police station immediately,'' Fr Lobo said. Police protection was granted till 7 pm, he added. The archbishop's office was also intimated. For Fr Lobo adds that Shiv Sainiks had threatened the school authorities during admissions last year as well.

A senior police officer from Zone VII told Express Newsline that Parab had been summoned by the Meghwadi police. He has admitted to visiting the school ``only to make inquiries.''

Today's incident follows the attack on Sacred Heart School at Worli by the local Sena unit and another attack at Our Lady of Good Counsel School at Sion on the same day. At the Worli school, 40 to 50 Sainiks broke office furniture and slapped a nun to scare the authorities into admitting their wards. At the Sion school, they were demanding admission for a child whose father, they claimed, was fighting on the Kargil front.

According to the school authorities, the child'suncle came with a letter purportedly written by the army stating that the child's father was in Kargil. However, he produced no letterhead. Also, a ruling party MP had called the school and asked the authorities to grant the child admission. The child was finally admitted to avoid a confrontation, the authorities added.