Bengal school principal alleges mob, police collusion

Taking suo motu cognizance of the case including the vandalism in the school that followed the girl39s death the state human rights commission asked the home secretary to task an additional director general of police to hold a probe Oindrila Das a Class 5 student at the Christ Church School at Dum Dum in North 24Parganas district died Sep 11 a week after she was allegedly locked up inside the school toilet by some of her seniors who demanded money from her as part of ragging A day after her death hundreds of people mostly parents and guardians ransacked the 131yearold school and forced principal Helen Sircar to resign Hours later she was arrested Sircar Wednesday virtually accused police and the mob of colluding during the vandalism quotI wasn39t arrested on my own like that I was forced to court arrest by police and the mobquot Sircar told mediapersons here quotGiven the circumstances considering the safety of my teaching and nonteaching staff I gave in I didn39t resign voluntarily The police under instructions from the mob forced me to resignquot Sircar said A court has granted bail to the principal who was booked under several nonbailable charges following a police complaint by the girl39s family Sircar criticised police for inaction and said officers were present during the entire episode when mobs ransacked and vandalised the school and the principal39s office quotWe had called them to offer protection to us but they came after quite a while They were present during the entire time the vandalism was going on They acted according to what the mob told them to do I don39t want to recall the incident Every moment was traumaticquot said Sircar Over a dozen people have been arrested so far for the vandalism Ruling out suicide in case of Oindrila39s death Sircar said the alleged ragging quothas not been provedquot Sircar condoled Oindrila39s demise and said she would visit her bereaved parents quotwhen the time is rightquot Oindrila39s father Santanu Das welcomed Sircar39s proposition to visit the family but stressed on vigilance on her part to prevent such episodes from recurring quotNo one is taught to bully or ragit is very unfortunate that it happened I want the three students to be identified and marked for this behaviour The governing bodies and committees should probe the matterquot the grieving father of Oindrila told IANS quotShe is always welcome But I request she should be alertout of 100 students not all are badonly some may go offtrackso one has to be carefulquot Das said as he broke down Yet to come to terms with Oindrila39s death Das and his family fervently hoped teachers developed an understanding of the students they mentored Das fondly recalled Oindrila39s affinity towards her teachers He added quot My daughter was very fond of her teachers she had bought gifts for them to distribute in the upcoming pujasquot The West Bengal Human Rights Commission expressed quotserious concernquot over the events and directed the state home secretary to order a probe quotThe investigation will include death of the student vandalism of the school by guardians and outsiders police inaction and the principal39s arrestquot said a WBHRC official The Calcutta Diocese of the Church of North India which runs the school has announced that over 1000 Christianrun schools will observe Sep 19 as a quotblack dayquot and remain shut The West Bengal Association of Christian Schools has set up an independent inquiry committee to look into all the allegations and find out the truth The probe will also decide when the school would reopen and whether Sircar would be reinstated as principal