HC seeks report in Sunitibala Sadar Girls’ High school case

Jalpaiguri: Justice Kaushik Chanda of the Jalpaiguri Circuit Bench of the Calcutta High Court has directed the District Inspector of Schools (Secondary), Jalpaiguri, to submit a report within three weeks regarding the complaint filed by Sunitibala Sadar Girls’ High School Headmistress Sutapa Das.

The court, however, did not entertain Das’s interim plea seeking the removal of Saikat Chatterjee, president of the school’s managing committee. Das had filed the petition a few days ago, making the state government a party. The matter was heard on Friday.

The controversy erupted after a CCTV footage went viral on November 10, allegedly showing the headmistress being forced to do sit-ups holding her ears inside the school premises on January 4. The incident reportedly occurred during a managing committee meeting held in her office, where teacher Arunima Maitra was also present. Meanwhile, several teachers had earlier filed complaints with the Education department accusing the headmistress of mismanagement and irregularities.

Despite the viral video and fresh allegations, Justice Chanda refrained from issuing any interim directive and instead instructed the DI to file a detailed report before the court. Headmistress Das’s senior advocate Uday Shankar Chatterjee said: “The headmistress had already submitted the video footage to the Education department. The authenticity of the footage must be examined. Given Saikat Chatterjee’s political position, it has become difficult for the headmistress to run the school effectively.

The court will seek further clarification after the DI submits the report.”

Saikat’s lawyer Bikramaditya Ghosh countered, saying: “A headmistress has no authority to seek removal of the managing committee president. The court gave no importance to that plea and only sought a report from the DI.”

Saikat Chatterjee himself termed the allegations politically motivated. “This is part of a BJP conspiracy against me. The court did not issue any interim order and did not raise any questions about the video footage,” he claimed.

District Inspector of Schools (Secondary) Sujit Sarkar said: “We will submit the report as directed by the court.”