In a belated response, security personnel removed protestors who locked the Education Director for hours in her chamber after holding a night-long vigil in the office complex. The Director, an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, is pregnant and was confined to her room from 10.30 a.m. on Thursday.
The protestors, a section of 10,323 ad hoc teachers who lost their jobs in early 2021 after years of legal proceedings owing to serious flaws in their recruitment, were demanding their reinstatement into service. The Supreme Court in 2017 upheld a 2014 order of the High Court of Tripura on the termination of their services.
The retrenched teachers have been staging protests in various forms on a daily basis to press their demand of reinstatement or fresh recruitment. They rejected the State government’s assurance of “phased recruitment” in different capacities at various departments.
A group of retrenched teachers locked the office chamber of the Education Director soon after their leaders were released from custody following a brief detention. Police personnel present were apparently reluctant to act, but hours later dispersed the protestors and rescued the Education Director following orders from their superiors.
The Tripura Commission for Women has taken cognisance of the forceful confinement of the pregnant officer. An official of the Commission condemned the incident and said the incident would be probed.
