The headmaster of a high school in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri was left bleeding after being assaulted by a group of students in an incident that began over a meal on Teachers’ Day and escalated into a violent campus-wide confrontation.
The incident took place on Jalpaiguri Zilla School campus on Tuesday, September 8, when a special meal with chicken curry and rice was organised at the school. The headmaster, Dharmu Chand Barui, was assaulted by a group of Class 10 students. Four of these students were allegedly beaten up by Barui first. Barui was at then attacked by a larger mob of students, who chased him out of his office.
The confrontation occurred first in the kitchen area, then in and around the headmaster’s office, and finally on the road outside the school, and it was a police team that had to intervene to bring Barui to safety.
According to reports, the dispute started when some Class 10 students went to the kitchen asking for extra portions of the chicken curry. Barui allegedly refused to hear them out and beat them up instead — an act that enraged the students and their classmates, triggering a retaliatory attack. Sources, however, pointed out that underlying the flashpoint was longer-running student resentment over the quality of midday meals at the school.
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The students said that Barui entered the kitchen and allegedly assaulted them without listening to their request. The headmaster also allegedly dragged one student to a nearby wall and slammed his head against it, leaving the boy seriously injured. All four students were later taken to hospital for treatment.
News of the assault by the headmaster set off protests by students on the campus. A group of students barged into Barui’s office and began punching and kicking him, then chased him out of his office while continuing the assault. The headmaster fell during the scuffle, sustaining further injuries, and was left with visible blood on his shirt by the time he was escorted out. Videos of the attack were captured on camera and circulated on social media.
Police arrived to rescue Barui, but students blocked the road and attempted to prevent officers from taking him away. He was eventually escorted out under police guard, flanked by officers, while still bleeding from his injuries.
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The students later used the incident to air broader grievances about Barui’s conduct and the state of the midday meal programme at the school. One Class 10 student alleged that the headmaster “regularly tortures students,” claiming that meals had largely been reduced to plain dal-bhat (rice and lentils), and that eggs had last been served roughly six months earlier. Students accused Barui of misconduct and alleged that meal quality had deteriorated significantly under his tenure.
Barui declined to comment to reporters while being escorted by police, leaving his side of the story unaddressed for now.
The incident lays bare a troubling breakdown in trust between the school administration and the students. What began as a routine request for extra food during a festive meal turned violent within moments — first through the headmaster’s alleged use of force against students, and then through a retaliatory mob assault that left him seriously injured. The underlying allegations of poor meal quality and alleged high-handedness suggest simmering discontent that had gone unaddressed until it erupted publicly.
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The requirement for police intervention, and the students’ initial resistance to it, point to a serious breakdown in order that will likely draw scrutiny from education authorities regarding both disciplinary practices and midday meal administration at the school.
