Students of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and the Students Federation of India (SFI) have been staging protests since the incident of police brutality against the 2014 TET-qualified candidate on Thursday, October 20. The TET protesters were protesting in front of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE) office in Kolkata’s Karunamoyee. After the board moved the court claiming disruption in their daily work due to the protesters, the Calcutta High Court imposed Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure Law (CrPC) on the site.
Following the order, a police force was deployed to vacate the location which resulted in injury and manhandling. The student wings are orchestrating protests across the state in solidarity with the protesters who were at the receiving end of excessive state force. “Students are protesting all across the city, however, quite a few of them have been arrested and beaten even before they could start protesting,” says Asif Iqbal, SFI Kolkata DC Member.
What happened?
The protests started at around noon on Friday, October 22, (22nd is Saturday not Friday) with DYFI and SFI student members together. “We did not intend to protest in Karunamoyee but police kept arresting our members the moment they’d get off the bus. Later, when we assembled near the City Centre 1 which is beyond the area where Section 144 of CrPC was imposed, nevertheless, students were arrested and beaten up there as well,” says Sainik Sur, DYFI Kolkata district secretariat member, who was at the protest.
The arrested students were released later in the evening around 8 pm. “Peacefully protesting is every citizen’s democratic right. The TET protesters were peacefully protesting for the last couple of days, why should such treatment be meted out to them?” adds Sainik, who was also there with the TET protesters during the time they were dragged out of the site by police.
Citizen’s March on October 22
Meenakshi Mukherjee, activist and DYFI’s state secretary, who was at the student’s protest was arrested along with a few others. Some student leaders were arrested before March began. Student leaders also claimed these arrests were made without any arrest memo. “There will be CItizens March today (October 22) at 3 pm from Victoria House in Dharmatala to the Academy of Fine Arts, without any political banner where citizens from all strata of life can join in voicing their dissent against the treatment meted out to the TET candidates,” concludes Sainik.
TET qualified candidate’s protests continue in Dharmatala
The 2014 TET-qualified candidates continue their protests in Dharmatala. October 22 marks the 68th day of their protests at the pedestal of Matangini Hazra's monument. The demonstrators have also filed a petition against the single bench judgement of the Calcutta High Court imposing Section 144 of CrPC at their protest site in Karunamoyee. EdexLive was informed by the prolocutor of the movement that a division bench will hear the plea on October 28.
