Agartala: The high court of Tripura on Tuesday sought the response of the BJP-led Tripura government in connection with a writ petition filed by over 10,000 government teachers seeking permission to continue with their ongoing sit-in demonstration at the city centre in Agartala.
As many as 10,323 teachers had moved court on February 8, 12 days after police resorted to force against the protesting teachers, who had been terminated in 2014.
On January 27, the state government had imposed Section 144 in and around Agartala city and detained around 160 teachers from the protest site early in the morning, when they were sleeping on the road. The protesters had been in a dharna for 52 days by then.
“On January 27, which was the 52nd day of our peaceful protest, the state administration imposed Section 144 at around 5:30 am and gave five minutes’ time to vacate the place. It was impossible to vacate in such short notice. A number of teachers were detained, and two main protest camps were dismantled by police,” Dipankar Debbarma, a protesting teacher, told The Wire.
In response to violence unleashed against the agitators, another set of teachers converged within a couple of hours outside City Centre and began marching to Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb’s official residence at Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Lane, located at a distance of 500 metres from the protest site. The state police, along with central paramilitary forces, tried to convince the protesters not to converge in the area.
Also read: Tripura: 8,882 Ad Hoc Teachers Demand Permanent Govt Jobs, Begin Indefinite Protest
After persuasions failed, the security personnel unleashed water cannon, fired tear gas and baton-charged at protesters, resulting in the injury of 80 teachers. A few of the injured were shifted to Govind Ballabh Panth (GBP) Hospital and in Indira Gandhi Memorial hospital here.
“The police beat us mercilessly, brutally and so many were injured and hospitalised,” Dipankar recalled.
Dalia Das, another leader of the Joint Movement Committee said, “January 27 was a black chapter in the history of Tripura. This is the most shameful and barbaric incident. Teachers were whisked away by the police, their clothes were torn, food and other donations given to us at our protest venue were looted. The police acted like goons.
Police stand guard to prevent protesting teachers from taking out a march in Agartala, Tripura, on January 27. Photo: Special arrangement.
Responding to the violence unleashed by the police on the protesters, West Tripura district magistrate Shailesh Kumar Yadav said, “Barricades were also set up, we also asked people to leave the place but they didn’t listen to us, broke the barricades and intensified their protest. Police tried to prevent them but they didn’t listen, so we used water cannon and fired tear gas. They became violent and started pelting stones at the police personnel, injuring many. The agitating teachers also vandalised four police vehicles. Then we had to resort to mild lathi charge to disperse them.”
Yadav claimed around 87 persons, including 70 protesters and 17 police personnel, suffered minor injuries.
However, the teachers denied the allegations of the state administration and claimed that “some unruly” persons who made their way into the protest attacked police personnel.
A few days after the police action, a teacher filed a case against some male police personnel for allegedly assaulting female teachers.
They also sought permission to continue their indefinite sit-in, however, police denied it. As they were left with no option, the protesting teachers filed a writ petition in the high court on Monday seeking permission for their protest.
Speaking to The Wire, Purushottam Roy Barman, the lawyer who had filed the petition on behalf of the teachers, said that a writ petition was filed on Monday against the police for violating the teachers’ right to protest and also seeking permission to continue their protest.
“The court had also issued notice to the state government,” the lawyer said.
The teachers have also filed a petition in the Tripura Human Rights Commission seeking redressal.
Background
The 10,323 school teachers, including graduate teachers, post graduate teachers, and under graduate teachers, had been inducted into the service in different phases since 2010 during the Left Front government.
In 2014, the Tripura high court terminated all of them and termed their recruitment process unconstitutional. In response to special leave petition filed by the state government, the Supreme Court later upheld the high court verdict in March 2017.
The teachers in question were supposed to retire after December 31, 2017, but the apex court kept them on an ad hoc basis, and in November last year, the Supreme Court granted them a one-time final extension until March 2020. Among the 10, 323 teachers, only 8,882 ad hoc teachers were left.
In 2017-18, when the BJP began campaigning for Tripura’s assembly elections and promised to resolve the issues of the said teachers on the humanitarian ground if it came to power.
In May 2018, the BJP-ruled state government moved the Supreme Court to extend the service of teachers, and on November 1, the apex court granted them a final extension till March 2020. Later, the state government created many vacant posts in Group-D and Group-C categories, for which teachers had to sit for exams.