Balurghat, May. 3: South Dinajpur district magistrate Romit Muthsuddi, who is also the returning officer, has been charged with gender discrimination after he exempted a woman from the duty of a presiding officer in Raiganj.

Krishna Karmakar, a teacher of Life Science in Karai Chenchra High School in Tapan block, who had been assigned the job of a presiding officer, has brought the charges against Muthsuddi after she found her name missing in the final list.

The 43-year-old teacher, who had undergone two of the three training courses for the assignment, alleged that gender bias was the reason why her name had not figured in the final list.

A teacher for the last 18 years in the school, Karmakar had been assigned duties in the last Assembly and panchayat elections.

“I don’t understand what prompted the returning officer to delete my name and exempt me from my duty as presiding officer. No specific reason has been cited. My performance at the training was appreciated. The district magistrate’s office, which sent me the letter cancelling my duties, had also praised me for my performance in the training session,” Karmakar said.

“The letter also stated that I could demand the money that I am supposed to get for the training,” she added.

The daughter of a goldsmith, Kartik Kamakar, Krishna is single.

The sole earner of the family, Karmakar had taken the responsibility to educate and marry off her four sisters.

Returning officer Romit Muthsuddi said it was not possible to make out if “Krishna” was a male or a female from the list of names sent by the school.

“The spelling of the name created confusion. She was taken as a male teacher and given the duty. But after we came to know that Krishna was a woman, we decided to exempt her from election duties. We did not recruit any women for poll duties since the Election Commission directive has directed us not to. We withdrew her name for security reasons,” Muthsuddi said.