1. MP Birla Employee Held For Assault
An employee of MP Birla Foundation Higher Secondary School was arrested late on Monday in connection with an alleged sexual assault on a three-year-old on the campus.
The arrest of Manoj – police have only identified him by his first name – followed a decision by the management of the Behala school to suspend him. "Manoj has been arrested in connection with the assault case related to MP Birla school, " additional commissioner (crime) Vishal Garg said on Monday night.
In the morning, many parents had gathered outside the school on James Long Sarani in Behala, demanding the resignation of the principal and the vice-principal. Manoj, a member of the cleaning staff of the school, was suspended after the agitation started.
(Source: The Telegraph)
2. Panel To Probe Charges Against Birla School Principal
A special committee has been formed to probe the charges against the principal of GD Birla Centre for Education after a four-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted. The step suggested that the law-enforcement machinery is seeking to put in place a meticulous process to avoid charges of acting in haste under public pressure.
The panel will include representatives of the Bengal education department, the state commission for child rights protection, the ICSE board and Calcutta police. An FIR against principal Sharmila Nath mentions charges of cheating, causing the disappearance of evidence, criminal conspiracy and failure to report an offence by subordinates, triggering a clamour among parents that she be arrested.
(Source: The Telegraph)
3. Accused Teacher’s Phone-Call Alibi Under Scanner
Police are analysing the call records of the two teachers accused of sexually assaulting a four-year-old student at the GD Birla Institute for Education to pinpoint their location at the time of the alleged incident.
The wife of Abhishek Roy, one of the arrested teachers, has told investigators that he had left school a little earlier than usual last Thursday and was having a telephone conversation with her around the time the sexual assault allegedly happened.
"We have yet to ascertain the exact time of the incident — it could be any time during school hours in the afternoon. In the absence of CCTV footage, we are looking at call records to determine the tower location of the accused at the time when the offence was committed, " an investigator said.
(Source: The Telegraph)
4. Terminal To Trolley Managers
Airport managers will now take the rap for union-protected trolley retrievers not doing their job.
While errant workers remain insulated from disciplinary action by the political clout of their union, the terminal managers are required to go around retrieving trolleys, if need be, a senior official said.
"They have been told to supervise trolley retrieval during the lean period, which is post- 11pm. How they get the contract workers to retrieve trolleys left lying around is their problem. The straightforward instruction is that morning fliers must find trolleys where they should be," the official told Metro. Beyond 11pm, contract workers paid to retrieve trolleys are known to get busy providing "service" to international passengers for a fee.
Source: The Telegraph
5. Dyslexic Student Back In School
With a High Court order in hand, dyslexic student Sankalpa Das reached his Kendriya Vidyalaya Ballygunge school on Monday morning with his parents in tow. The school had earlier barred Sankalpa from appearing for his Class XI CBSE exam and, in fact, informed his parents that their son’s name had been struck off the rolls on the ground of shortage of attendance.
The parents had moved Calcutta High Court after the school authorities refused to give their son subjects of his choice like music, painting and home science. As they reached the school, the authorities asked Sankalpa’s father Debashish Das to deposit the fee for his son’s readmission. After Debashish did so, other formalities for Sankalpa’s re-admission were completed.
Sankalpa’s mother Khuku Das said, “Two of Sankalpa’s subject teachers welcomed us with a smile. They told Sankalpa that he could attend school and study. They told him that they all want him to see him in school everyday and attend classes.”
)Source: The Times of India)
6. VC Hurt In Fight Between Students
Calcutta University vice-chancellor Sonali Chakraborty Bandyopadhyay was injured after she got caught in a scuffle between two rival groups of students, including those from the Sanskrit department, while leaving her room on the main campus on Monday. She had to undergo an MRI at a private hospital.
The VC said, “I got trapped in the melee and received injuries. I was in extreme pain and had to undergo immediate treatment. There were students outside my room who got into a fight.”
There were arguments and fistfights inside the main administrative building of Calcutta University on Monday between two groups of rival student union members.
Trouble began when the agitated students from the Sanskrit department, who were waiting for the publication of final list of selected PhD candidates, started a sit-in protest.
(Source: The Times Of India)
7. Dengue Stings North Kolkata in Last Leg
With the death of a 37-year-old Shyampukur resident on Sunday, dengue has now claimed a life in the north-central part of the city that had been relatively unaffected so far. Traditionally, the virus has been extremely active in the area which, in fact, used to be the epicentre of dengue till a few years ago.
This year, though, none had succumbed to dengue in the area despite scores being affected. It’s not just dengue, but also malaria that has affected scores in the zone, admit Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) officials.
According to a KMC estimate, more than a thousand are still suffering from dengue in these areas and the number of those affected by malaria could be more than 1,200. “This was the only part of the city that didn’t record a dengue death so far this year. It won’t be surprising if more deaths occur over the next fortnight since this is a vulnerable area,” said a medical practitioner residing in the area.
(Source: The Times Of India)