Calcutta HC seeks report on humiliation of school teacher by chairman of TMC-run municipality

Kolkata, Nov 22 The Jalpaiguri Circuit Bench of the Calcutta High Court has directed the District Inspector of Schools (Secondary) in Jalpaiguri to submit a detailed report on the alleged humiliation of a woman school teacher by the chairman of her institution’s managing committee, who also heads the Trinamool Congress–run Jalpaiguri Municipality.

Justice Kaushik Chanda passed the order on Friday, but the copy of the order in the matter was uploaded on Saturday morning.

A video had gone viral earlier this month where Jalpaiguri Municipality chairman, Saikat Chatterjee, was seen forcing the woman teacher attached to Suniti Bala Sadar Girls High School in Jalpaiguri district to perform sit-ups, holding her ears inside the school premises.

The Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, had shared this video on his social media handles and claimed that humiliation of women in the workplace, largely at the hands of grassroots leaders of the Trinamool Congress, has become rampant in West Bengal.

Later, the headmistress of Suniti Bala Sadar Girls High School, Sutapa Das, approached the Jalpaiguri Circuit Bench of the Calcutta High Court with the plea for the removal of Chatterjee from the post of chairman of the educational institution's managing committee.

The matter came up for hearing on Friday. During the hearing, Justice Chanda expressed strong displeasure over the conduct seen in the video and called it "obnoxious". Thereafter, he directed the district inspector of schools to carry out an investigation into the matter and submit a report to the court within the next two weeks.

This was not the first time that Chatterjee had been in the midst of controversy.

This is not the first time Chatterjee has been embroiled in controversy. In 2023, the alleged suicide of Pandapara Road residents, lawyer Subodh Bhattacharya and his wife Aparna, after consuming poison, had sparked public outrage. Their suicide note purportedly named Chatterjee -- then the district president of the Trinamool Congress youth wing and municipal vice-chairman -- along with several other TMC councillors.

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