Day after students asked to wear uniform instead of burqa, villagers attack Murshidabad school

Villagers attacked a school in Murshidabad district of West Bengal on Saturday, a day after the school headmaster had allegedly asked some students to wear their uniform instead of a burqa.

Late on Saturday evening police managed to rescue the teachers and headmaster who were locked up inside the school. The police have arrested at least 18 villagers, while the headmaster of the school was suspended. A departmental probe has been initiated against him.

“The incident that took place at Bahutali High School in Suti is very unfortunate. Some miscreants started throwing bricks. The headmaster has been suspended and a few people have been arrested,” said Jakir Hossain, minister of state for labour.

Locals alleged that on Friday the headmaster of the school had told the students to wear the school uniform instead of burqas. On Saturday morning, more than a hundred villagers surrounded the school and demanded that the headmaster be handed over to them.

“The headmaster had asked the students not to wear a burqa. They were told to wear the school uniform,” said Tahidul Islam, a local.

According to the 2011 census, Muslims form around 66% of the total population in Murshidabad. It is the highest among all districts in Bengal. Malda had a Muslim population of 51%.

“A clash broke out in Suti. Some villagers said that the headmaster had asked the students to come in school uniform instead of burqa. The situation was later brought under control,” said Emani Biswas, TMC legislator of Suti.

A section of villagers said that the students were given uniforms from the school. The teachers are supposed to send those pictures to the district administration. Hence the students were asked to wear the uniform instead of burqas.

Senior police officials of Jangipur police district, local legislators, political leaders and top officials of the district administration rushed to the spot to diffuse the tension. Later in the afternoon, however, the situation worsened and some villagers started throwing bricks.

The police had to resort to lathi-charge and fire tear-gas shells to disperse the mob to bring the situation under control.

“We have arrested 18 people. A search has been initiated to arrest a few more people. Investigation is going on,” said Bholanath Pandey, superintendent of police of Jangipur.