In a recent update of the Calcutta high court, law enforcement officials reported the arrest of eight individuals linked to the assault on teachers at a Narendrapur educational institution.
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Kolkata: In a recent hearing at the Calcutta High Court, Justice Biswajit Basu questioned the delay in the arrest of the Narendrapur school’s headmaster, implicated in a distressing incident where several teachers were reportedly assaulted by strangers on January 27. Despite the headmaster’s application for anticipatory bail in a lower court, Justice Basu scrutinized the reasons behind the police’s inaction, highlighting a significant concern over the enforcement of law and order.
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Justice Basu stated that, “It’s been over a week and police have failed to arrest the headmaster only because he has filed an anticipatory bail plea in a court?”
This remark came after a state government lawyer informed the court about the headmaster’s anticipatory bail plea filed in an Alipore court. The accused remains unarrested, despite being one of the two individuals named in the First Information Report (FIR) related to the case.
Further, the court also revealed that the police had detained eight individuals in connection with the alleged assault, with six of them not listed in the FIR. This action follows the shocking events of January 27, when a group of individuals forcefully entered the school, launching an attack on teachers, vandalizing the staff room, and confining the educators until a police unit comes for their rescue.
The violent event occurred due to the allegations of a student being sexually assaulted by a teacher, a serious accusation that the school is accused of concealing. Some faculty members suspect the headmaster planned the attack to coerce them into retracting their complaints about his alleged misconduct. They argue that the accused persons could not have accessed the school without the headmaster’s consent, a claim he has since denied.
Legal experts have pointed out that the filing of an anticipatory bail plea should not hinder the arrest of an accused individual.
One lawyer remarked, “Justice Basu was surprised because a few years back the apex court had pointed out that a plea for anticipatory bail could not come in the way of arresting an accused,” shedding light on the legal precedent that anticipatory bail does not provide immunity from arrest.
