Tripura CM meets family members of 'lynched' govt school teacher

Amid the statewide protests over the 'lynching' of a government school teacher in Tripura, Chief Minister Manik Saha on Sunday visited the residence of the slain teacher Abhijit Dey and assured the family members that the government would do everything to ensure justice.

Dey, 40, was brutally tortured in front of his wife on August 8 by some people at Udaipur in Gomati district, and he succumbed to his injuries on August 10.

The Chief Minister along with Finance Minister Pranajit Sinha Roy and local MLA Abhishek Debroy visited the residence of Dey at Udaipur in southern Tripura's Gomati district.

"This is really a sad incident. After I learned about the incident, I immediately directed the police to take appropriate steps. Such incidents are not acceptable. The law will take its own course of action," CM Saha told the media.

He said that arrests have also been made.

"This is truly a painful incident. We couldn't imagine that something like this could happen. The investigation is underway, and the culprits will not be spared. The government would do everything to ensure justice," the Chief Minister said.

In protest against the incident, many teachers' and students' bodies, NGOs, and political parties organised protest rallies in various parts of Tripura.

In connection with Dey's killing, Tripura Police have so far arrested three main accused -- Jayanta Saha, Sankar Karmakar, Suman Madrazee -- and are looking for another attacker.

Dey, a government school teacher, used to teach a girl student of Class 8 at her home.

On August 8, the girl asked the teacher to translate an English word, and he replied to the meaning of the particular word through WhatsApp chat. However, the reply was 'misinterpreted' by the girl and her parents, Dey's wife said.

Later, the girl student's father, Sankar Karmakar, called Dey and his wife at their house.

Dey was severely thrashed by the girl's father and others. They also assaulted his wife -- also a government school teacher.

The police went to the spot and rescued Dey and then took him to Gomati district hospital for medical treatment.

Dey's wife, who later filed a complaint with the police against four accused persons, said that after the assault, the girl student's family members filed a case against her husband at the Udaipur Women’s Police Station with a "false accusation".

Subsequently, the teacher was arrested and presented in a court, where he fell ill and started vomiting blood, following which he was again taken to the district hospital, which referred Dey to the government-run Govind Ballabh Pant Medical College and Hospital in Agartala, where he succumbed to his injuries on August 10.

A CPI-M delegation led by Opposition Leader Jitendra Chaudhury and a Congress delegation led by former minister Sudip Roy Barman separately met the family members of Dey. Both demanded severe punishment for the culprits.

Congress and CPI-M leaders alleged that police and doctors were also negligent over the death of Dey and an investigation must be done into their "suspicious" role.