A woman teacher in a state-run school in West Bengal was allegedly humiliated by the chairman of the educational institution's managing committee, who also heads the Trinamool Congress-run Jalpainagar municipality, and a purported video of the incident has gone viral on social media.
In the video, the school's managing committee chairman, Saikat Chatterjee, was seen forcing the woman teacher attached to Suniti Bala Sadar Girls High School in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal to perform sit-ups, holding her ears.
The Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, had shared this video on the wall of his social media handle and claimed that humiliation of women in the workplace, largely at the hands of grassroots leaders of the Trinamool Congress, has become rampant in West Bengal.
IANS, however, could not check the authenticity of the video shared by the leader of the opposition.
Adhikari questioned how Chatterjee, who is appointed chairman by the government as a representative of the School Education Department, could resort to such an action.
Chatterjee, the Trinamool Congress councillor and the erstwhile vice-chairman of Jalpaiguri Municipality, has recently been promoted to the position of chairman of the same urban civic body.
"It seems like he has received this reward for humiliating the woman teacher. In Trinamool, Congress pulling off stunts like this is par for the course to climb the ranks; many have secured top positions by following this very path," Adhikari said.
This is not the first time that Chatterjee has been in the midst of controversy.
In 2023, residents of Pandapara Road in Jalpaiguri city, lawyer Subodh Bhattacharya and his wife Aparna Bhattacharya, allegedly committed suicide after consuming poison.
"In the suicide note, the names of the then-district president of Trinamool Congress youth wing and the then municipal vice-chairman Saikat Chatterjee, along with other Trinamool Congress councillors, were mentioned," Adhikari pointed out.
"The unfortunate part is that Trinamool Congress has made such a tainted individual the civic head of a historic city like Jalpaiguri. A person who has no respect for the dignity of womanhood will run the city," the leader of the opposition added.
Neither Chatterjee was available for comments, nor has the Trinamool Congress responded to the matter so far.
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