Seven booked for assault on teachers

KOLKATA: The teacher incharge of Chandraketu Saidullah Smriti Mahavidyalaya, Sudeshna Biswas, on Saturday, lodged a police complaint of attempt to murder against seven first-year students of Basirhat College who had assaulted four teachers and a non-teaching staff of the college for having prevented them from cheating in the Sanskrit exam on Friday.
The students have been booked under nine sections of IPC of which three charges – attempt to murder (section 308), severe assault (section 333) and ransacking and vandalizing college property (section 353) are non-bailable. However, no arrests were made in this connection till reports last came in.
Biswas said, “These same very students had attacked non-teaching staff Zafar Ali Mondal even earlier. Three days ago, Mondal was returning home after college, when he was attacked at Haroa station road. We had then lodged a complaint with police. Neither was security beefed up on the college premises, nor were any attempts made to book the students.”
“Only two constables were posted at our college on Friday. But when the students started beating up the teachers and the staff, the constables escaped in fear. The students of our college who were writing their exam at Basirhat College were also not spared. They were abused and prevented from completing their paper,” she added.
The principal of Basirhat College, Ramendranath Talapatra, meanwhile, lodged a counter complaint with Basirhat police. The complaint against Saidullah Mahavidyalaya authorities states that some students of Basirhat College were beaten up after the exam. Talapatra alleged, “My students were intentionally attacked. Two of them even had to be hospitalized. We have lodged a police complaint in this connection.” Police picket has been posted on the campus of the warring colleges.
Avijit Talapatra, examination controller of West Bengal State University to which both the colleges are affiliated, said, “Students of both colleges who could not appear in the examination due to the violence will be allowed to reappear in the exam on another fixed date.” Classes, however, remained suspended on Saturday in both colleges.
SP North 24-Parganas Champak Bhattacharya said, “We have received the complaints. We have already spoken to the authorities of both colleges and are investigating the matter.”
Atiqul Islam, the Bengali teacher of Saidullah college, who is admitted at a private nursing home in Barasat with severe injuries, was reported to be better. “He is recovering quickly. But Zafar Ali Mondal is still in a critical state,” said a nursing home authority.