Calcutta HC verbally asks two protesting teachers to appear before police

KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday verbally directed two protesting teachers to appear before the police for questioning in connection with an investigation into the clashes that broke out in and around Bikash Bhavan, the state Education Department headquarters in Salt Lake, on May 15.

Justice Tirthankar Ghosh orally asked the West Bengal government not to take any coercive action till Thursday against the two - Sudip Konar and Indrajit Mondal- , who petitioned the court challenging a notice to them by the police over incidents of scuffle with the law enforcers in front of Bikash Bhavan on May 15.

The court also asked the state to produce before it the case diary in the FIR lodged in connection with the protests during the hearing on Thursday. The state's counsel informed the court that notices have been sent to 15 persons in connection with the events during the protests .

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The protesters claimed that a number of them were injured in baton charge by the police to disperse them from the road in front of Bikash Bhavan on May 15 evening. Clashes broke out between agitating school teachers and police in and around the Bikas Bhavan when the agitating teachers broke barricades and rushed inside the premises on May 15. The police have also claimed that some of its personnel were injured in the scuffle.

School teachers, who lost their jobs following a recent Supreme Court verdict, are protesting outside Bikash Bhavan since May 15. Nearly 26,000 teaching and non-teaching staff of West Bengal government-sponsored and -aided schools lost their jobs on an order of the Supreme Court for illegalities in the recruitment process.