Protesting against a teacher’s rude
behaviour, students of the Darjeeling Polytechnic Institute in Kurseong
today demonstrated outside the Kurseong police station for several
hours. The situation turned quite tense for a while when a confrontation
with the police seemed imminent.
DPI students’ union general secretary
Devendra Limbu said in order to convey an important message to the
students regarding the institution’s T-shirt, the union had taken
permission from a DPI authority and entered a classroom where an
internal test of 1st year students was going on. But as Limbu and his
associate Ranjan Sarki entered the classroom, institute teacher Dhurba
Jung Tiwari allegedly misbehaved with them.
Limbu claimed this is not the first time
that Tiwari has ill-treated students of the institute. Having had
enough, Limbu led some students and filed a complaint with the Kurseong
police station against the teacher. He added instead of taking stern
action against Tiwari, the police treated him as an honoured guest while
they treated the students as though they were criminals. Hence, the
students decided they would not leave the police station unless the
police take stern action against the teacher.
The angry students shouted slogans
against Tiwari after which a heated argument ensued between them and the
police. Eventually, Kurseong SDPO CB Subba intervened and calmed the
situation and the students lifted their demonstration.
Kurseong IC Moloy Majumdar said Tiwari
first entered the police station with a complaint against some DPI
students, but he was soon followed by the students who started agitating
all of a sudden.
Majumdar further said the police have
received complaints from both parties. As the principal of the institute
is out of station and will be back only on Monday, the police will meet
him and discuss the matter after a proper investigation, said the
officer. He added as the incident occurred within the DPI premises, the
police cannot take any action in his absence.(EOIC)