Chaos erupts at girls' high school over teacher abusing 6-year-old, furious guardians tussle with police

Kolkata: A teacher of a girls' high school in the city was arrested for allegedly abusing a six-year-old girl. Following the incident, guardians of other students started agitation. It was alleged that some guardians ransacked the school as well.

Some of the school teachers were beaten up. To control the law and order situation, police had to lathicharge to disperse the violent mob. A guardian was injured during the scuffle. The police have also alleged that guardians pelted stones towards them and as a result, at least 12 police personnel got injured.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has expressed her concern regarding the incident. Sources informed that Banerjee has already asked the Education department to intervene and to look after the matter seriously.

According to sources, it has been alleged that on September 26, a male teacher identified as Dipak Karmakar, sexually abused a six-year-old child inside a vacant room in the school. As the child's mother was suffering from dengue she was not aware of the incident. After her recovery, she came to know about the same while talking to her daughter. On Tuesday morning, she came to the school and submitted a complaint to the school authority.

The situation turned violent after the news spread among the other guardians. They started agitation, demanding to hand over Karmakar to them. When the school authorities tried to pacify the agitated guardians, the situation worsened as the guardians started ransacking the school. When some teachers tried to resist, they were also heckled and beaten up. Seeing this, some school students from the secondary section helped the teachers.

Immediately, Lake police station was informed. Upon receiving the information, a large police team reached the spot. Despite repeated requests, the guardians refused to step back. Later, a section of Rapid Action Force (RAF) was called in to tackle the situation. The Deputy Commissioner (DC) of South East Division Kalyan Mukhopadhyay also arrived at the spot.

All of a sudden, some persons from the gathering started pelting stones towards the police. Immediately, the police retaliated. To disperse the violent mob, RAF and police personnel started lathicharge. While dispersing the mob, some people could be seen who were not guardians. Police sources informed that taking advantage of the situation, several outsiders had joined in and started ransacking the school. They also pelted stones towards the police.

Following this, police arrested four persons for ransacking the school and pelting stones towards police personnel. "The accused teacher has been arrested. A separate case has been initiated against the ransacking and stone pelting. Four persons have been arrested in this connection. Till now it is not clear whether these four are guardians or outsiders," said Mukhopadhyay.

Later, school authorities decided that no male teacher will be attending classes up to Class V. They will also discuss with the Education department about the possibility of transferring male teachers to other schools. On Tuesday, chairman of the District Primary School Council Kartik Manna said: "A detailed investigation will be done as per order by the minister. Outsiders were involved in the incident. Normal school will resume from Wednesday."

Apart from the Chief Minister, the chairperson of the child protection committee Anannya Chatterjee also expressed her concern about the incident. She said: "Police have already initiated a suo motu case. We will ensure that the guilty persons do not get released."