Howrah is the battleground of student clashes in English medium school over giving cigarettes to a classmate.
A massive clash broke out between two groups of students of a reputed private English medium school at Guni Tender Lane, Bangavasi Mor, Howrah. Around which the area became hot on Wednesday afternoon. The eleventh and twelfth class students of that school used to attack the area with sticks and sharp weapons. When the local residents tried to stop the clash, they were also attacked by the eleventh and twelfth class students. A few students were injured in the clash among themselves. Later, the situation calmed down when a large police force went to Howrah PS and arrested some students. Police forces were deployed. But what is the conflict between the two groups of students? Local residents said that the clash centered around a student of the school being taken to a cigarette shop in front of the school and forced to give her a cigarette. A group of students went to give the girl a cigarette. As the student did not agree, they tried to give her cigarettes by force. Then another group of students interrupted it. And that was the clash between the two groups of students.
An eyewitness named Soma De, a local resident, said, “At around 1 pm, I suddenly saw a student being beaten by 20 students with sticks and sharp weapons inside Gui Tender Lane and Jayanarayan Santara Lane, the road in front of the school. The boy runs away in panic. If the local residents had not stopped the boy, his life would have been lost,” said a local resident named Bikash Das. “Seeing the boy being beaten, when we tried to save him, the school students attacked us with sticks. When we see the situation going out of control, we inform the police.”
Regarding this incident, local Trinamool leader Surjit Saha said, “For the last 5 to 7 years, the upper class students of this school have been creating unrest in the area. From standing on the street smoking ganja, they chirp the tones of passing girls. He sometimes fights in front of the school with baton weapons. The same thing happened today. This school should be closed immediately as demanded by local residents.”
The other students of that school and their parents were also scared due to this incident. Rituparna Chattopadhyay, mother of a terrified class VI student, said, “Class XI and XII students sometimes fight among themselves. Six months ago, a group of students stabbed another group of students. I heard that on this day, to take revenge, one group attacked another group with sticks and weapons.” An official of the Howrah City Police said that some students are being detained and interrogated to find out what caused such an incident.
