SILCHAR: Over 20 school students of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya were suspended in Assam’s Dibrugarh after they mobbed, and assaulted a woman teacher for calling their parents to discuss their low marks in a recent examination, people familiar with the matter said.
The suspension of 22 students was ordered after the history teacher, who is pregnant, lodged a formal complaint about the conduct of the students. She has, however, declined to file a police complaint.
School employees said the incident took place on Sunday evening after a parent-teacher meeting convened by her to discuss the low score of some students. A school employee said over 40 students mobbed her when she came out of the school campus. “They used abusive language, pushed her and also threatened her,” the employee said on condition of anonymity.
The employee said other school staffers, the principal and some girl students came to the rescue of the teacher.
Principal and some other teachers who tried to save the pregnant teacher were also heckled by the students.
The authorities have been able to identify 22 students so far. “They are mostly from classes 9 and 10… We’ll discuss what kind of punishment they deserve,” a school official told reporters on Wednesday.
“At one point, they threatened to enter my quarters to beat me. Since they are our students, we didn’t report them to the police,” vice principal Rathees Kumar said.
Police said that they are aware of the incident but no formal complaint has been filed. “We are keeping a watch on the developments but cannot intervene,” a police officer said.
This is the third reported incident of violence or ragging at educational institutes in the district.
On Sunday night, a post-graduate student of Dibrugarh University died by suicide after being ragged by seniors.
Dibrugarh superintendent of police Shwetank Mishra said four persons have been arrested for abetment to suicide. “Two FIRs were lodged in this connection and they accused 5 students, we have arrested two of them. In our investigation, we found that a few more students were also involved and we have arrested two more,” Mishra said.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday blamed Dibrugarh University for the tragic death of the student, saying the student had complained about it in September but the university authorities didn’t address it.
The university has rusticated 18 students and officials said, action could be taken against some more students.
In another incident, two students of Assam Medical College (AMC), Dibrugarh were suspended on Tuesday for their alleged involvement in ragging. The decision was taken on the recommendation of the institute’s Anti-Ragging Committee, according to college officials.
