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Attack on teachers of Narendrapur school: Headmaster suspended

Since the Madhyamik examinations will start within 48 hours, we have selected a teacher of the school to act as supervisor for the time being, said a senior official of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education

Kinsuk Basu, Subhankar Chowdhury Kolkata Published 01.02.24, 05:58 AM
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The state secondary education board on Wednesday suspended the headmaster of the school in Narendrapur where a group of outsiders had allegedly assaulted some teachers last Saturday, officials at the board said.

The board has entrusted a teacher of the school with the task of supervising the administration till the Madhyamik exams are over.

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The headmaster is among those named in the FIR in connection with the alleged attack on a section of teachers of the government-aided secondary school in Narendrapur.

Police are on the lookout for the headmaster, along with the others named in the FIR. Calcutta High Court on Tuesday gave the cops two days to round up the accused.

“We have decided to suspend the school’s headmaster since he is among those named in the FIR in the case of alleged attack on a section of teachers of the institution,” a senior official of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education told Metro.

“Since the Madhyamik examinations will start within 48 hours, we have selected a teacher of the school to act as supervisor for the time being.”

A group of around 20 youths had allegedly barged into classrooms of the school and attacked a few teachers in the morning of January 27. The youths also allegedly ransacked the staff room and kept some of the teachers locked in a room till a police team arrived.

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.

A number of teachers, however, told the police that they believed that the youths had arrived at the behest of the headmaster.

The teachers said they had lodged a complaint against the headmaster, accusinghim of being involved in irregularities in the running ofthe school. The attack, they said, was aimed at forcing them to withdraw the complaint.

The headmaster had denied the allegations. He 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?”

In the aftermath of the incident, two persons were arrested but they were not among those named in the FIR.

On Tuesday, the police told the court that two more had been arrested but did not clarify whether their names figured in the FIR, which was lodged by teachers with Narendrapur police station.

The superintendent of Baruipur police district, Palash Chandra Dhali, had on Tuesday sought two-days’ time from the high court to arrest the accused named in the FIR.

Justice Biswajit Basu granted the police two days in response to the appeal.

Police officers said that while the headmaster was not involved in the attack, he was aware that the youths had entered the school premises when classes were on.

“A team under the leadership of a deputy superintendent of police is on the job. Some of the accused are untraceable. Their family members claim that eventhey are not being able to connect with them,” said a senior officer of the Baruipur police district.

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