The high court on Wednesday asked two schoolteachers seeking action against alleged police excesses on protesting teachers at Bikash Bhavan last week to go to the local police station and name those among the protesters who attacked the police and harassed employees at the education secretariat.
The two petitioners were told to go to the Bidhannagar (North) police station on Thursday and also identify the protesters who incited the May 15 violence.
Indrajit Mondal and Sudip Konar have to do that before the case comes up for hearing at 4pm on Thursday.
The court told the police that no coercive action could be taken against the two.
The police had summoned 15 teachers after thousands of teachers attempted to storm the education secretariat to protest against their termination of jobs by the Supreme Court on the ground that the entire recruitment process conducted by the state school service commission in 2016 was “vitiated” beyond redemption.
Of the 15, Indrajit Mondal and Sudip Konar approached the court and appealed that the police proceedings against them be quashed.
The court has now asked them to visit the police station and disclose the names of those who attacked the police and others while attempting to storm Bikash Bhavan.
Over three thousand employees, 900 of them women, were trapped inside the building for over eight hours until police used force to disperse some of the demonstrators and rescued them.
During Wednesday’s hearing, the state’s counsel, Kalyan Bandyopadhyay, alleged that the teachers went on the rampage and prevented even pregnant women from leaving Bikash Bhavan.
Justice Tirthankar Ghosh said: “It is not expected of a teacher to behave this way. You can keep protesting. Fifty or 100 of you should assemble at a time. I can understand the pain you are going through. But attacking a public servant cannot be justified.”
“The state government is sympathetic towards you. Shift your protest to Central Park. A biotoilet facility will be arranged there. One hundred of you should assemble there at a time. You have a right to protest. The Supreme Court has given a directive. You have to appreciate that,” the judge added.
The sacked teachers have been staging a sit-in outside Bikash Bhavan since May 7.
The Supreme Court terminated the jobs of 25,753 teaching and non-teaching school staff on April 3. Modifying its earlier order, the apex court said on April 17 that the teachers found not specifically tainted could work till the end of December.
The court also asked the state and the SSC to initiate a fresh recruitment exercise and submit an affidavit by May 31. The teachers who are not specifically tainted can take part in the fresh recruitment exercise, and they would enjoy an age relaxation but no additional advantage.
Education minister Bratya Basu said on May 19 that the protesting teachers were the ones who did not want to take part in the fresh recruitment exercise.
Lawyer Sudipto Maitra, who represented the two petitioners in court on Wednesday, said the teachers were holding a peaceful protest on May 15, and a politically influential person came to the spot and pounced on them.
He did not name the chairperson of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation, Sabyasachi Dutta, but the insinuation was clear to many. Dutta and his supporters were engaged in a brief scuffle with the protesters, and the police had to rescue him. Dutta had said he was there at the education office on personal work. “Go back” slogans and cries of “chor (thief)” greeted him there.
Kalyan Bandyopadhyay presented pictures to show how the police had been attacked and barricades had been smashed.
The Judge asked the police to present the case diary.
Later, a senior officer of the Bidhannagar police commissionerate told The Telegraph: “The two teachers expected to come on Thursday will be questioned about the violence outside Bikash Bhavan and those responsible. The entire proceeding would be recorded.”
The Deserving Teachers’ Rights Forum, which has been leading the protests, on Wednesday sought to distance itself from the two petitioners.
“They were not part of the 2016 state-level selection test (SLST) panel through which we had been selected. They are outsiders,” said Sangita Saha, a member of the forum.
The remaining teachers out of the 15 went to the police station on Wednesday evening after the court order.