PTI, Kolkata, May 21, 2025 : The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday verbally directed two protesting teachers to appear before the police for questioning in connection with an investigation into the clashes that broke out in and around Bikash Bhavan — the state Education Department headquarters in Salt Lake — on May 15.
Justice Tirthankar Ghosh orally asked the West Bengal government not to take any coercive action till Thursday against the two teachers — Sudip Konar and Indrajit Mondal — who had petitioned the court challenging a police notice served to them over their alleged involvement in a scuffle with law enforcers in front of Bikash Bhavan.
The court also asked the state government to produce the case diary related to the FIR lodged in connection with the protests, during the hearing scheduled for Thursday.
The state’s counsel informed the court that notices have been issued to 15 individuals in connection with the incidents during the protests.
The protesters claimed that several among them sustained injuries due to a baton charge by the police who tried to disperse them from the road in front of Bikash Bhavan on the evening of May 15.
Clashes had erupted between agitating school teachers and police in and around Bikash Bhavan after the protesters broke barricades and rushed inside the premises. The police also claimed that some of their personnel were injured in the scuffle.
The protesting school teachers had lost their jobs following a recent Supreme Court verdict and have been staging a sit-in outside Bikash Bhavan since May 15.
Nearly 26,000 teaching and non-teaching staff of West Bengal government-sponsored and -aided schools lost their jobs following a Supreme Court order, which cited irregularities in the recruitment process.
