1. ‘Were Forced to Write We’re Lesbians,’ Say Girls of Kolkata School
“Write that you have put your hands in your friend’s blouse; that you’ve tickled them under their skirt, hugged them and held their hands.”
This was what was allegedly said to a group of 12 and 13-year-old school girls in a south Kolkata school, who were threatened with expulsion because they were “suffering from homosexual behaviour”. The school in question, Kamala Girls’ High School, is one of the most reputed Bengali-medium schools in the city.
According to allegations by parents and students, on 9 March 2018, the teacher-in-charge or acting headmistress of the school, Shikha Sarkar, asked 12 students to write that they were indulging in certain behaviour that was not civilised and sexual in nature. They were told that they were being asked to do so based on a complaint by a fellow student.
When one of the girls refused to write anything without her parents, she was told that a transfer certificate would be issued to her. Read the full story on The Quint.
2. Shami Row: Wife To Record Statement On 19 March
Md Shami’s wife Hasin Jahan will record her confidential statement before a magistrate next Monday. The appeal made by the Kolkata Police was granted by an Alipore court on Tuesday. Jahan would also undergo a medical test — one of the prerequisites of any rape complaint — later this week.
“We moved the court with an appeal to allow Jahan to record the statement before a magistrate. The court subsequently allowed to do so on 19 March. Further, she would undergo a test as required for a complainant of any case under section 376. The date will be fixed shortly,” said Praveen Tripathi, joint commissioner (crime), Kolkata Police.
(Source: The Times of India)
3. Bengal Joins #ImDone Campaign
What started off as sitarist Anoushka Shankar’s online campaign running up to International Women’s Day, has now inspired women in Kolkata to draw up their own bucket list of things they are fed up with. Social activists to teachers to designers and transgender rights activists, women from all walks of life are proudly announcing what they refuse to accept any longer. Following Shankar’s campaign trail, all their posts come with #ImDone.
On Tuesday, fashion designer Suchismita Dasgupta posted on Facebook: “I’m done with patriarchy, with fighting every day for equality which should be my birth right! I’m done with having to prove myself all the time in both personal and professional life, done with having to give explanation for choices I make! I’m done with women pulling down other women! I’m done with the concept that a woman must be a Ma Durga!”
(Source: The Times of India)
4. Give Me Peace, I will Give You Prosperity, Mamata Banerjee Tells Darjeeling
Months after violence and tension erupted in the north West Bengal hills centering the Gorkhland movement, chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday asked the political outfits in Darjeeling to maintain peace and ensure no form of violence returns to the region.
"Please give us peace, we will give you prosperity, that is our commitment. That is our assurance," Banerjee said here after inaugurating the first 'Hill Business Summit', nearly six months after the longest ever shutdown in the Darjeeling hills was withdrawn.
"Please see Darjeeling is clean and green. Please ensure that there isn't any violence. If there is violence, some political leaders might gain, but the people of Darjeeling won't gain from it. The young generation would become more and more impatient," she said.
(Source: The Times of India)
5. Row Over Army Bulldozer At School
A bulldozer requisitioned by the army on Tuesday demolished the main entrance to a school in Barrackpore, a portion of its boundary wall and an adjoining waiting room for students, triggering a protest by students writing their ICSE and ISC examinations.
For around 45 minutes starting 3.45 pm, the bulldozer hammered away at the gate and wall of Modern English Academy, about 25 km from the heart of Calcutta, until the dean of the school yanked off the key to silence the engine.
The army had pasted a notice signed by the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Barrackpore Cantonment Board on the school gate around 2pm, stating that a portion of the gate and the adjoining tin shed used as a waiting room were "illegal", a school official said.
(Source: The Telegraph)
6. Teacher Arrested for Sexually Abusing Nursery Student
Tarun Kanti Ghosh, a teacher of a primary school in Khardah in North 24-Parganas, was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly assaulting a Nursery student.
Ghosh had allegedly abused the four-year-old a fortnight ago. Police said she had been refusing to go to the school since the alleged incident till her parents bought her a toy and coaxed her into joining class on Monday. Sources said the school, run by an NGO, had students from Nursery to Class IV on its rolls. Ghosh had joined the school a few years back.
The girl narrated her plight to her grandfather after returning from school on Monday. She apparently said that the teacher had once called her and touched her at different places. He held her strongly when she tried to wriggle out. She was in pain but couldn't speak about it to her parents.
(Source: The Telegraph)
7. Tiger Team Duo Dead
A forest guard and a driver who were part of the operation to track the tiger sighted in Lalgarh last week were found dead on Tuesday in a mini-truck with its windows rolled up to keep out mosquitoes.
Damodar Murmu, 37, and driver Amal Chakrabarty, 40, probably suffocated to death, police said hours after the two were pulled put of the truck in West Midnapore's Goaltore forest by residents who had to break open the doors around 5.30am. Chakrabarty was hired on contract.
"All the windowpanes of the vehicle, a mini-truck, were found shut, probably to keep mosquitoes and other insects away and to beat late-night chill in the forest. It appears Murmu and Chakrabarty had a respiratory problem when they were sleeping," said an officer of Goaltore police station.
Such mini-trucks are used to drive away elephants and carry men and equipment to tackle elephants. It can accommodate more than 10 people.
Murmu and Chakrabarty were deployed in the forest at Hamalgora area, around 170km from Calcutta, after at least two cages with live bait was put up in the forest.
(Source: The Telegraph)
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