Doctor murder: 3 Bengal schools asked to explain students' participation in rally

NEW DELHI: Three educational institutions in West Bengal have been issued a show cause notice by the school education department for making students participate in a rally during school hours against the murder and rape of a woman doctor in a hospital in Kolkata, an official said. The three state-aided schools -- Baluhati High School, Baluhati Girls' High School and Bantra Rajlakshmi Girls School -- all in Howrah district were served the show cause notice on Friday and asked to give an explanation within 24 hours.

The school education department official said that along with students, several teachers and non-teaching staffers had taken part in a joint rally taken out on Thursday by the schools in "violation of all rules and regulation". Strict action will be taken against the school authorities if their responses are found unsatisfactory.

"Students cannot take part in such a rally particularly during classes on weekdays. We learnt that some teachers and other staffers of the schools took the students to the rally," he said. The show cause notice is preceded by a directive issued by the school education department in Paschim Medinipur district forbidding school students from taking part in any activities not related to the school or department.

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"School students cannot take part in any political activities," the notice issued by the district inspector of schools, Paschim Medinipur, said. The official said the steps were necessitated in the wake of reports that students of higher classes were being inducted for political rallies, blockades across the state demanding justice for the woman doctor.

However, the notices did not mention the incident directly. Since the rape-murder of the woman doctor about two weeks ago, various parts of the state have been rocked by protest rallies brought out by citizens, civil society organisations, youth, student and women's bodies and political parties demanding the arrest of all the perpetrators of the crime.