TET Qualified Candidates Protesting For Jobs Dragged And Removed By Kolkata Police — WATCH

Kolkata News: The protesters allege that they have qualified for the TET exam, but they have not been recruited. The police dragged the agitators on Friday as they refused to budge from their protest.

The police dispersed the protesters, saying section 144 of the CrPC had been imposed in the area on Thursday.

Source : Screenshot from ANI video

New Delhi: Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) qualified candidates who have been protesting near the head office of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education were violently dragged into a bus on Friday. A video showed the agitators sloganeering while several Kolkata Police officials continued stuffing them into the bus. 

The protestors claim to have qualified the 2014 TET exams but were still omitted from the merit list. The police dispersed the protesters, saying section 144 of the CrPC had been imposed in the area. Section 144 of the CrPC prohibits the assembly of four or more people in an area. Violation of the order is punishable under section 188 of the Indian Penal Code.

#WATCH | West Bengal: Police personnel drag Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) qualified candidates who're protesting near the head office of West Bengal Board of Primary Education in Kolkata regarding job recruitment. Section 144 of CrPC imposed in the area pic.twitter.com/Begne3eODc

— ANI (@ANI) October 21, 2022

At Thursday midnight, the agitators ignored repeated pleas by police to vacate the spot insisting they would leave only after getting appointment letters for teaching jobs in state-run and state-aided primary schools.

The police dispersed around 500 protesters at around 12:35 am, according to news agency PTI. The police said that they used "minimum force" when the agitators refused to move away from the spot despite repeated appeals. However, the protesters alleged that police “physically abused” some of them.

The protesters who are on indefinite sit-ins since October 17, earlier asserted that they will not leave the area without their appointment which led to the deployment of additional police personnel, including women constables and Rapid Action Force, in the area.

The indefinite sit-in by the candidates of the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) 2014 entered its fourth day on Thursday. They claimed to have qualified the test but were overlooked by the board during recruitment. Twenty agitators were on hunger strike, as per the PTI report. 

About 100 others, who claimed to be TET 2017 candidates, began a dharna about half a km away.