Three arrested for driving out madrasa teachers from guest house in West Bengal

Three persons were arrested on Tuesday afternoon for allegedly driving out 10 madrasa teachers from a guest house in Salt Lake on the eastern fringes of Kolkata. The guest house authorities allegedly asked the teachers to leave on Monday even as they had prior booking.

According to sources in the Bidhanagar Police Commissionerate, the trio were arrested on charges of resorting to discrimination on religious grounds against the teachers.

They further revealed that the three accused were detained on Monday on basis of a complaint lodged by the madrasa teachers with the local Bidhanagar East Police Station.

“They were arrested today (Tuesday) following interrogation,” said a senior police official of the Commissionerate.

The teachers alleged that after they arrived at the guest house in the DL block on Monday morning they had to wait several hours after registering their names. They said that then they were told that no rooms were available at the guest house and then were taken to another guest house, where at around 11 am they were asked to leave immediately but were not shown any reason.

“We were then taken to a guest house in the CL block and were allotted three rooms there. But at around 11 am we were suddenly asked to leave immediately. But the guest house authorities did not give us any reason,” one of the teachers, Mohammad Obaidur Rahaman told media persons.

The teachers work at the Srirampur madrasa in Malda district and were in Salt Lake as they had to visit the Education Department headquarters at Bikash Bhavan for official work, said the state secretary of Paschimbanga Sikhak Aikko Mukta Mancha, an organisation of Madrasa teachers, Maidul Islam. He demanded exemplary punishment for the accused. The organization has lodged a separate police complaint.

Denying the allegation, the guest house authorities said that there was no religious discrimination against the teachers.