Ruckus at Malda school again, police open fire

TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Malda: For the second consecutive day, Bangitola High School in Malda turned into a battlefield with students and guardians taking on teachers — and even policemen on Saturday — for not being allowed to use unfair means during the Madhyamik life science paper. Police had to fire at least two rounds in the air to quell the mob. Three policemen were seriously injured. On Friday, trouble had broken out at Bangitola High School and Baluachora High School in Kaliachak over the same reason. Invigilators had been roughed up by students and their bikes torched for not allowing them to copy during the “tough” English paper. Accordingly, on Saturday, security had been beefed up at both centres, where armed policemen had been deployed. The heightened security caused further trouble for the 392 candidates taking the exam from Bangitola, all of them being continuing or compartmental candidates, who did not clear the exam last year. Like Friday, on Saturday, too, they were denied the chance to use unfair means. After the exam, the angry students turned violent. With the guardians, they began pelting stones at the teachers and policemen. Police then fired two rounds in the air to disperse the mob. No one was injured. Later, a huge force, led by the DSP, reached the school. Additional SP Kalyan Mukherjee confirmed the firing. “We had to fire in the air as our men were attacked by the mob,” he said.