Sacked school teachers in Tripura on Monday moved the high court after the police denied them permission to hold a sit-in demonstration.
Over 8,000 school teachers have been protesting against their termination since December 7, 2020. After the police forced them to stop their protest, the teachers sought permission to hold a sit-in for the second time. But they were denied.
“A writ petition has been filed in the high court against the police for violating the teachers’ right to protest,” said Purushottam Roy Barman, the counsel who filed the petition on behalf of the teachers.
A total of 10,323 teachers were terminated following an order of the high court in 2014. The Supreme Court upheld the order in 2017. Of the 10,323, some were absorbed in different departments, while over 8,000 of them were appointed on adhoc basis—their tenure expired on March 31 last year.
The teachers have been conducting a series of protests for a permanent solution to their crisis. Chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb, in September, assured them of help within two months. After not getting any response from the government after the expiry of the deadline, the teachers have been conducting a sit-in demonstration in Agartala since December 7, 2020.
As their protest entered its 51st day on January 28,2021, the police forced them to vacate the protest site and detained over 100 of them. The incident prompted the remaining teachers to gather in front of the chief minister’s residence from where the police tried to disperse them using tear gas and water cannons and lathi charge. The clash left 87 people injured, including 70 teachers and 17 police personnel.
Satyajit Dey, a leader of the sacked teacher’s group, said, “The writ petition has been filed on Monday. We will share details about our petition later.”
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