Amid protests, G.D. Birla School suspends classes

Kolkata: G.D. Birla Centre for Education is going to be shut down for an indefinite period from Monday in wake of the sexual assault on a four-year-old student by two teachers as the guardians’ protest entered the third day.

A notice pasted on the school gate on Sunday stated that all the sections would remain closed from Monday. The students’ guardians saw it on Sunday morning when they gathered. Blocking the road in front of the school, they demonstrated and shouted slogans.

Later, they took out a rally from Ranikuthi More to Tollygunge Metro Station. In the afternoon, they visited the Jadavpur police station and lodged a complaint against school principal Sharmila Nath accusing her of trying to cover up the incident.

Meanwhile the West Bengal State Commission for Protection of Child Rights has demanded the arrest of Ms Nath. Its chairperson Ananya Chakrabarti informed that she spoke to Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar and joint commissioner of police (crime) Vishal Garg.

“I told them that those who try to hush up a crime under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act are liable to abetment of the offence and they can be booked under the law also. That’s why I demanded the principal’s arrest. We will also look into how the school could close down its function,” she said.

The victim’s father who joined the other guardians showed a letter with the school’s seal and name in which the school principal offered sympathy to him for the incident and assured of beefing up security. “We are concerned specifically with regard to the safety and secuirty of your daughter, a student of this school,” she wrote while informing him about the removal of Abhishek Roy and Mohammed Mafizuddin as the physical training instructors.

The victim’s father however claimed that the letter was delivered to his home in an envelope which had no address. The two arrested are in the police custody now. They will be produced at the court on Monday again.

The case has been taken over by the detective department of the Kolkata police. Education minister Partha Chatterjee questionned the appointment of male teachers in the girls’ school.

He asked, “Why will the male teachers be there in a girls’ school? It is better to not to appoint male teachers in a girls’ school. When the subject is physical training, why will the male teachers be appointed? The school should have taken precautions.”

Mr Chatterjee said, “It is a very good school. The change the school authorities made should have been given a second thought that such a problem could arise.”