Amid row, Bengal cop accused of kicking protesting teacher removed from probe (Lead)

Kolkata, April 11 (IANS) Amid a row, the cop accused of kicking a protesting teacher in front of the office of the District Inspector of the schools at Kasba in Kolkata, has been removed from the probe into the agitation by the job losers.

As the information surfaced on Friday morning that the said cop Riton Das, a Sub-Inspector attached to Kasba Police, has been entrusted to probe against teaching and non-teaching staff over their protests at Kasba on Wednesday afternoon, the Kolkata Police drew all-round criticism.

The protesting teachers, opposition leaders, and civil society questioned the neutrality of such an investigation, which is being carried out by a cop who is himself accused of kicking a protesting teacher.

Now, Sanjay Singh, who is also attached to Kasba Police Station, will probe the incident.

On Wednesday afternoon, the police resorted to lathi-charge on the teaching and non-teaching staff of state-run schools whose jobs have been recently terminated following an order from a division bench of the Supreme Court.

They were protesting in front of the office of the District Inspector of schools at Kasba, demanding that the state government immediately segregate the "genuine" candidates from the "tainted" ones getting jobs paying money.

In the police action against the protesting teaching and non-teaching staff, several protesters received severe injuries from being hit by police batons. Amid the scuffle, Das was spotted by some media cameramen kicking a protester.

However, the administration described the police action as mild and also claimed that the police were forced to take action after they were attacked.

A meeting of the delegation of the teaching and non-teaching staff with the state Education Minister Bratya Basu is scheduled on Friday, where the latter is expected to explain to the delegation the initiatives mooted by the state government to end the crisis over the Supreme Court's verdict.

--IANS

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