The Nirmala Convent. (Inset) Sister Mercy John shows how the marauders went on the rampage. Pictures by Avijit Sarkar

Siliguri, Jan. 30: A mob, demanding reinstatement of some dismissed teachers, forced their way into the sisters’ quarters of the Nirmala Convent school, rampaging and terrorising the teachers.

The rampaging mob, claiming to be members of the Siliguri Teachers’ Forum and armed with cutting tools, barged into the second-floor living quarters school principal Sister Mercy John shares with six others.

The mob had forced their way into the sprawling complex by threatening the solitary guard at the main entrance.

The group then rushed to the principal’s office and found that it was closed.

They then went up to the second-floor living enclosure. Seeing that the collapsible gate was shut, they started ringing the bell and banging on the gate. When one of the sisters came out, the mob demanded that the principal meet them.

Sister Teresta, who had come to answer the bell, was told to open the gate. Some women members in the mob allegedly started shoving Sister Teresta, demanding that the principal be called out.

Principal Sister Mercy John, who had heard the commotion, had taken shelter along with five other sisters in the living room and locked it from inside.

The mob forced their way in and used a saw to cut open the wooden door and physically pulled her out. They told the principal to immediately give a written undertaking that she would reinstate the two dismissed teachers.

“School had given over for the day at 3 pm. After all 1,200 students had left for home, we heard a commotion at the school’s main gate. One of my colleagues informed me that a mob of over 100 people was trying to force its way into the school compound. We immediately rushed back to our living quarters and tried to contact the police. However, the Bhaktinagar police did not respond to our call,” Sister John said.

She alleged that the police arrived an hour after the raid. “After failing to get any response, from the Bhaktinagar police station, which is only half-a-km away from the school, I called up the circle inspector of New Jalpaiguri. He assured me that he would send the OC, Bhaktinagar, to investigate,” the principal added.

School managing committee member Ratan Kumar Bihani said: “Trouble had been brewing between the teachers’ forum and the school authorities over the dismissal of a teacher Swapna Dasgupta in March last year over alleged malpractice. This month, the school authorities did not renew the trial contract of a physical training teacher. Parents and teachers had lodged complaints against the teacher.”

“We are concerned over such a criminal attack on the sisters. What the so-called teachers’ forum members did today was not a democratic protest,” said a parent.

A senior police official said investigations were on into the incident. “We will take action after a formal FIR is lodged. We sent a team to the school, but by then the mob had left the campus he said.