WBSSC recruitment case: Senior cop justifies baton charge on protesting teachers

Kolkata, May 16 (IANS) A senior official of West Bengal Police on Friday sought to justify the baton charge in front of Bikash Bhavan, the state Education Department headquarters, on the "untainted" or "genuine" secondary and higher secondary teachers in state-run schools who have lost their jobs following a Supreme Court order last month.

"We had been waiting patiently till Thursday evening for around seven hours. But in the evening, after the duty hours were over, around 600 employees in the building got stuck because of the ‘gherao’ agitation outside the building. As our men tried to bring those employees out of the office building, a section of the protestors attacked them. So, we had no other option but to use force," Additional Director General of Police, South Bengal, Supratim Sarkar, told media persons on Friday evening.

His clarifications come in the face of scathing criticism faced by the state police over the "unprovoked" and "ruthless" baton charge on the protesting teachers, with attention of the Calcutta High Court’s Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam had already been sought for the court’s suo motu intervention in the matter.

However, the protesting teachers, united under "Jogyo Shikhok-Shikkika Adhikar Mancha (Genuine Teachers’ Rights Forum)", have vehemently denied the claims by Sarkar. "None of us used force on anyone, and our protests were totally peaceful. We have lost our jobs because of institutional corruption. Now the state government is speaking of protocols. Why did they not think of such protocols in ensuring that the recruitment process was transparent and corruption-free?" questioned a protesting teacher.

Meanwhile, the West Bengal Doctors’ Forum, which had been spearheading the movement against the ghastly rape and murder of a junior lady doctor of state-run R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata within the hospital premises in August last year, on Friday, vehemently criticised the assault of protesting teachers.

In a statement, the forum demanded an unconditional public apology from every authority and individual responsible for this "brutal" attack on the teachers on Thursday night.

It has also demanded a transparent, time-bound, and court-monitored investigation into the individuals and institutions who perpetrated the school recruitment scam.

The Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, too, launched a scathing attack against the state government over the alleged police atrocities and said that in a civilised society, such a brutal handling of respected teachers is unthinkable.

On April 3 this year, a Supreme Court bench of then Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar had upheld a previous order by the Calcutta High Court’s division bench of Justice Debangshu Basak and Justice Shabbar Rashidi cancelling 25,753 school jobs in West Bengal.

The apex court also accepted the observation of the Calcutta High Court that the entire panel of 25,753 candidates had to be cancelled because of the failure of the state government and the commission to segregate the "untainted" candidates from the "tainted" ones.

The state government and West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) had already filed review petitions at the apex court on this issue.

--IANS

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