Police on Friday justified the use of force to rescue government employees trapped inside Bikash Bhavan for more than eight hours on Thursday when teachers and non-teaching staff left jobless by a Supreme Court verdict laid siege to the education department headquarters.

A case has been started against unknown persons for damaging public property and assaulting government officials.

More than 3,000 government employees from the 58 offices across the 10 floors of Bikash Bhavan, and several visitors too, became hostage to the siege well past working hours on Thursday.

The police said some elderly employees had felt unwell and at least one pregnant woman complained of uneasiness after being holed up inside for several hours.

A senior Bikash Bhavan official said around 900 women employees were present, and more than one among them was pregnant.

“There are 58 government offices, to be precise (at Bikash Bhavan). Not all the staff are employees of the education department. The offices close by 5.30pm. Not all are privileged enough to have cars. Many travel by bus,” additional director-general of police (law and order) Jawed Shamim said on Friday.

“We started receiving calls from the people stuck inside. A young woman tried to jump from the mezzanine floor and fractured her leg. This was the situation when we had to intervene to rescue the people inside.”

Justifying the police action, he said: “Everyone has the right to agitation. (But) the right to agitation should not in any way supersede the right to freedom of movement.”

A suo motu case has been registered in connection with Thursday’s incident, under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, relating to criminal trespass, rioting, wrongful restraint, causing harm to public servant deterring them from performing duty, disobedience to an order promulgated by a public servant, threatening a public servant, assault and criminal force against government servant, criminal intimidation, criminal conspiracy and common intention.

“We still believe that teachers, who are the pillars of society, will not be involved in any unacceptable act,” Shamim said.

The police said they were trying to identify the outsiders among the protesters.

The primary intent of the protesters was to prevent the Bengal government from notifying a fresh recruitment process for the posts vacated by the court order, which had sacked 25,753 school staff saying their entire recruitment process was vitiated.

Additional director-general of police (south Bengal) Supratim Sarkar said the sacked school staff had been demonstrating in front of Bikash Bhavan for the past 10 days, but there had been no problems till Thursday.

“For the last 10 days, this demonstration has been peaceful. We extended full cooperation. There was no interference from our side,” he said.

“Yesterday, around 2,000-2,500 protesters came and tried to break the police cordons. The police requested them to stop, but they broke the gate and entered the compound. When the police tried to stop them, they were heckled and the protesters started saying they would not allow anyone to step out of the building.”

Sarkar said the police had desisted from acting against the intruders out of “respect for the teachers who had lost their jobs”.

“The police deliberately avoided doing anything when the gate was broken. The police showed due respect for the emotions of the protesters who had lost their jobs,” he said.

“The police showed restraint, showed patience…. Had the police wanted to use force, they could have done so when the gate was being broken. But the police waited for seven hours and tried to make them understand. The police requested them to withdraw.

“In the evening, when the employees tried to step out of Bikash Bhavan after office hours, the protesters did not allow them to. Even then, the police waited for two-three hours and tried to convince the protesters. Then we started receiving panic calls from the people stuck inside.”

Sarkar said the police had tried to vacate half the road to ensure safe passage for those inside. “It was then that the agitators started to push and heckle the people and also the police,” Sarkar said.

“There would have been no problem had the protest been staged democratically. But if the gate of a government office is broken and more than 500 people are wrongfully restrained, the movement neither remains democratic nor peaceful.”

Shamim said that if the protesters had the right to protest, the people trapped in the building too had the right to return home safe.

The police said 19 personnel were injured while trying to rescue the hostages.

The sacked school staff said many of their colleagues were brutally assaulted and injured in the police action.

The agitators continued with their protests outside Bikash Bhavan on Friday, but there were no reports of violence or forced detentions.

A BJP team led by Suvendu Adhikari visited the protest site and promised support.

Reacting to allegations that the presence of Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation chairman Sabyasachi Dutta had triggered the violence, the police said the protesters were inside the compound by the time he had arrived.

“In case there is any specific complaint on this (alleged assault by Dutta’s associates on the protesters), lawful action will be taken,” a senior officer said.

Dutta was heckled and forced to leave by the protesters.