Birendra Kumar, the injured teacher, admitted at SKMCH in Muzaffarpur on Friday. Picture by Prakash Kumar

Muzaffarpur, Feb. 4: Two teachers have become a symbol of courage for their colleagues after they were severely thrashed by Naxalite cadres for defying their diktat and hoisting the Tricolour on Republic Day and daring to pull down the black flags put up by the guerrillas the previous night.

Pramod Kumar Singh, 56, acting headmaster of Dhanraj High School in Tengrari, and Birendra Kumar, 55, assistant teacher at the same institution, bore the brunt of the Maoist assault on the night of January 26 that followed their act of defiance. The duo are undergoing treatment at the Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital in Muzaffarpur town, about 50km from Tengrari.

Tengrari, a small, sleepy hamlet in Minapur block, is located about 130km north of Patna and is close to the Nepal border, which is about 15km away. The area, which lies in a flood-prone zone, is dominated by the Maoists who have upped their activities in the last few months.

In the run-up to Republic Day, the Maoists warned the people against hoisting the Tricolour and for the first time, put up black flags within the school campus.

On the night of January 25, Singh and Sinha, who stay on the campus, mustered the courage to remove the black flags. The next day, the duo encouraged the other teachers and students to join in the Republic Day celebrations and they hoisted the National Flag.

What followed was mayhem. Enraged by the snub, a band of about 25 Maoist guerrillas swooped down on the school on the evening of January 26. Singh, Sinha and two other teachers were present on the campus then, their other colleagues having gone off to their respective homes owing to the holiday.

The Naxalites, carrying blunt weapons and firearms, tied up Singh and Sinha and brutally assaulted them. The two other teachers were spared as they pleaded innocence and said they did not bring down the black flags.

All the while, Singh and Sinha braved the beatings and maintained they had brought down the black flags and led the others into hoisting the Tricolour. A heavily-plastered Sinha, who has suffered several fractures, said from his hospital bed that their ordeal lasted for over an hour when they were confined to a room and assaulted. “But all the while we told the Maoists that we would rather die than compromise with the nation’s pride. This further infuriated them and they intensified their attack on us,” said Sinha.

Singh, the acting headmaster, said the Maoists were, however, unsure of whether to kill them or not. “They appeared divided on whether to eliminate us. Some wanted to execute us, but the others, the majority of them, wanted to teach us a lesson and send a message to others daring to oppose them,” said Singh, who has a fractured hand.

Singh said all the while the rebels were searching for headmaster Ram Swaroop Mahto, who wasn’t present, as they wished to extort Rs 1 lakh from him. But after seeing that the two teachers had collapsed from the beating, the marauders left, with the warning that they would return.

Muzaffarpur senior superintendent of police Sunil Kumar said the Special Task Force had been deployed in Minapur to flush out the rebels.

A delegation of Secondary Teachers’ Association headed by Uma Kant Thakur visited the hospital to meet the wounded teachers. Thakur said the duo had become a symbol of courage for teachers who discharge their duties under extremely adverse conditions in the Maoist-affected areas. He demanded safety and security for teachers working in these areas.