Commissioner of Kolkata Police (CP) Manoj Verma on Wednesday said that the police’s use of force and lathicharge against protesting teachers who lost their jobs due to a Supreme Court ruling which annulled the appointments of over 25,000 West Bengal school staff, is “not desirable”.
Addressing a press conference at the state secretariat Nabanna, Verma said that police are investigating the matter and will take action against anyone found responsible. “What have you seen in the video that police is kicking a teacher, it is not desirable. But, you have not seen the other side also. Our officer was also injured. It is not desirable and we are investigating the whole matter. If anyone is responsible, we will take action. But I must say, lathicharge or kicking the teachers is not desirable,” he said.
A group of teachers and non-teaching staff who lost their jobs due to a Supreme Court ruling which annulled the appointments of over 25,000 West Bengal school staff clashed with the police outside the office of the District Inspector of Schools in the Kasba area of Kolkata Wednesday. The police resorted to a lathi charge to disperse the protesters, with some of them alleging that they were kicked by some police personnel. Several teachers also claimed injuries during the clash.
Protests also took place across the state, including Kolkata, Bardhaman, and Balurghat.
Referring to the clashes between police and teachers, West Bengal Chief Secretary Manoj Pant appealed to the educators not to get involved in confrontations so that their plan to legally resolve the impasse does not get affected.
“They can show their protest but they should not be misled and should not take law in their own hand and do not hurt government property then, we have to take action,” he said.
“We would request the teachers that whenever they have any protest or need to submit a deputation, we ourselves would facilitate it. We are not against teachers and respect them and are sympathetic towards them,” CP Verma further said.
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CS Pant urged teachers to continue working in their respective schools to ensure that the state’s education system does not collapse and also stated that the government is taking steps.
Pant said that the government is taking steps and will file a review petition in the Supreme Court in the context of its order annulling over 25,000 jobs last week.
“School Service Commission already filed a clarification petition where we have appealed to continue the existing (education) system and we are consulting on how within the legal framework and the verdict of the Supreme Court, we can file a review petition. So, they should not be worried,” he said.
Meanwhile, BJP MLAs staged a protest in front of Kolkata Police headquarters at Lalbazar, condemning the police’s lathicharge on teachers at the District Inspector’s office. Party MLAs Shankar Ghosh, Agnimitra Paul, and Ashok Dinda, were arrested during the demonstration but later released on bail.
-with PTI
