The high court on Monday ordered that the persons named in the FIR related to the alleged attack on some teachers at a Narendrapur school on Saturday would have to be arrested within 24 hours and the headmaster would be barred from entering the campus till Madhyamik is over.
The sub-divisional officer of Baruipur will run the school for the time being and the superintendent of the Baruipur police district will personally oversee the investigation in the case, Justice Biswajit Basu of Calcutta High Court said on Monday.
The Class X board exams, conducted by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education, will start on February 2.
A group of around 20 youths had allegedly barged into classrooms of the school and assaulted some of the teachers on Saturday morning. The attack followed allegations that a student of the school had been raped by a teacher and the institution had kept the incident under wraps.
Some of the teachers, however, told the police that they believed that the attack had been engineered by the headmaster.
"Who are those who entered the school, attacked some of the teachers and have been named in the FIR? Political leaders or panchayat members? What about their arrest? They should be arrested within 24 hours," Justice Basu said on Monday afternoon.
The police informed the court that two men — Maheswar Naru and Sonu Mandal — were arrested on Sunday for their alleged involvement in the attack.
The judge said the two were not among the 15 named in the FIR. The accused named in the FIR must be arrested within 24 hours, the judge said.
"The police must submit a compliance report before the court. The school's headmaster will have to submit whatever he has to tell the court on Tuesday," Justice Basu said.
An officer at Narendapur police station said: "We are on the job to arrest the accused."
Some of the teachers had told the police that they believed that the attackers had arrived at the school at the behest of the headmaster.
The teachers had said they had raised objections against certain irregularities, with which they believed the headmaster was involved, and lodged a complaint.
A case on the issue is pending in court. The attack, the teachers had said, was an attempt to force them to withdraw their complaint.
Denying the allegations, the headmaster had said on Saturday: "We have been trying to curb attempts to create unrest at the school by the staff. Why would we do something that would tarnish the school's reputation?"
Justice Basu said on Monday: "The assistant director and the deputy director of the school education department had drawn up a report (about the alleged irregularities) after visiting the school. But it is inadequate. They will have to appear in the court on Tuesday."
Two days after the alleged attack, the majority of the students stayed away from classes on Monday. The turnout of the teaching and non-teaching staff was negligible. A sense of fear was palpable at the school, the authorities said.
"We will ensure the students return to school without any fear. The teaching and non-teaching staff will be offered adequate protection so that they don't feel scared," an officer at Narendrapur police station said.