West Bengal Teacher Assaulted, Stripped For Discipling Student; Incident Sparks Protest

A female teacher in West Bengal was assaulted and stripped by a mob for disciplining a student in South Dinajpur. The incident took place last Thursday in Trimohini Pratap Chandra High Secondary School in South Dinjapur. Police arrested four people for assaulting teachers on Sunday, hours after a complaint was lodged by the school authorities with the Hili police station.

As reported, on Thursday when class nine student Jarnatun Khatoon was loitering on the veranda of the school instead of being in the class, teacher Chaitali scolded Khatoon by holding her ear.

West Bengal teacher assaulted

After the parents of Jarnatun learnt about the incident, the family members and others in the area reached the school. They were enraged that the teacher had hit the student. A video of the incident that appeared on social media shows a huge commotion inside the staff room, where the guardians are seen assaulting the female teacher.

A police team rushed to the school after receiving information about the incident. Later, the situation was mediated by the school teachers' block administration with an assurance of security.

The incident sparked outrage among the locals and political leaders, with many taking to social media to report the incident.

BJP state president and MP Sukanta Majumder reached the spot on Sunday evening and held a protest meeting.
He said, “I was a teacher once. We also disciplined many students. To a teacher, a student is his or her student only. As the teacher touched the student’s ear, her religious attire, hijab, dropped. This resulted in the incident.”

“The girl’s family along with two hundred people attacked the school. And the police didn’t have any courage to lodge a case. Only when locals held the protest and blocked the roads, police lodged an FIR against 35 persons,” the BJP leader said, seeking justice for the teacher.

Headmaster of the school, Kamal Kumar Jain, said, “We are ready to consult with the locals. I stand with the teachers of the school and I even feel a lack of protection. What happened was not expected. I called the BDO the other day. We will sit at a table with all representatives.”

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