Malda: In a spine-chilling incident, a gun-wielding man stormed into a high school in the Malda district of West Bengal on Wednesday afternoon (April 26) with the intention of taking students hostage. But he was overpowered by police and arrested. The man also placed a petrol bomb and a container full of acid on the table in the classroom. Panic gripped the students of Muchia Anchal Chandra Mohan High School at Old Malda.
Man threatened to kill students
In a video, the man was seen yelling inside a classroom with nearly 35-40 students including girls before he is overpowered and arrested by the police. "The man managed to enter the school and barge into the room where Class-8 students were seated. He was holding a gun and shouting at the students, allegedly threatening to kill them," the officer told PTI.
Class teacher Pratibha Mahanta said the man who looked like a parent entered her classroom and brandishing a gun told her to sit in one corner and asked students to sit quitely before starting off with threats and complaints that the administration was not doing enough to trace his missing wife and child, who he claimed was a student of the school. "I somehow managed to escape when he was busy shouting and alert other teachers," Mahanta told newspersons. Teachers who rushed towards the classroom said he "would shoot if someone shoots him".
Anxious guardians rushed to the school which has about 1,000 students and made a beeline outside the educational institution. The classes were suspended following the incident. The gunman was however overpowered by bystanders and police personnel who had also rushed to the school on being informed that a hostage drama was unfolding, the officer said. The police also seized a pistol, two bottles containing some liquid and a knife from his possession. Malda Superintendent of Police Pradeep Yadav told media persons, "The situation has now been brought under control... we are investigating why and how the man entered the school and managed to get into a classroom."
Mamata Banerjee praised police to avert hostage crisis
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who was holding an administrative meeting in Kolkata at the time, came out to praise the police for preventing what was viewed as a potential school hostage crisis that could have turned ugly, similar to hostage shoot-out incidents on US educational campuses. Lauding the police for disarming and arresting a man, Banerjee alleged that the entire matter may have been a plot. "Case of the man brandishing a gun at Malda school may not be an act of lunacy," the chief minister told a press conference at the state secretariat.
'His son, wife missing since a year'
The man has reportedly claimed that his complaints to the various authorities about his missing wife and child have been ignored. His son and wife have been missing since a year, and he wanted to exert pressure on the administration to take note of it. He was heard complaining that his repeated letters and missing complaints about a missing wife and child to various officials including to the state secretariat had been ignored. However, according to his neighbours the man in his mid-40s, is separated from his wife and his child lives with her.
BJP reacts to incident
BJP state spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya reacting to the incident, criticised the state police and equated the averted hostage crisis to shooting incidents in the United States, where gunmen have shot dead school students during similar attempted hostage-taking. "The incident reflects the worsening law and order situation in the state. Such incidents are quite rampant in Europe and America. We have never witnessed such incidents here," he said.
Educationist Pabitra Sarkar said the incident pointed to a deep-rooted social malaise where an individual believes he can settle scores with society by an act which endangers children. "We had never heard about such incidents happening here in Bengal in the past. Only read about these things happening in schools in America. That the concerned person chose such a path to address his grievances is a sad commentary of the social situation” Sarkar said.
(With PTI inputs)
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