In light of the strict anti-cheating drive in school examinations, Punjab Education Minister Sikander Singh Maluka and Director General of Secondary Education K.S. Pannu have written to higher authorities after a police personnel reportedly “pressured” a school examination official to reach a compromise with a local BJP leader who had been arrested for assaulting him, in Amritsar district.
The department has expressed its displeasure at the manner in which the local police reportedly connived with BJP leader Pran Nath, his 15-year-old son Vikas and their associates to secure their bail by forcibly obtaining a “letter of compromise” from the assaulted examination official.
According to reports, Vikas had attempted to sneak in material intended to help his sister cheat in her 12th grade computer science examinations at the Government Senior Secondary School in Bhangali Kalan village. After he was thwarted by education department employee Pushpinder Kumar and sent away, Vikas returned with his father and some men, armed with guns and other weapons.
The men allegedly thrashed Mr. Kumar and roughed up other staff on invigilation duty, including some women and police personnel deployed for security at the examination centre. They even tore up examination sheets. The BJP leader and his son were then reportedly arrested.
The case, however, took a curious turn early on Saturday, when the police produced a letter informing the court that since the fracas occurred outside the examination centre, a compromise had been reached. Whereupon, the court granted bail to the arrested persons.
Mr. Kumar, on his part though, submitted a letter to the District Education Officer (secondary) at Amritsar seeking a transfer to his hometown Dinanagar in Gurdaspur, claiming that he was living in fear in the wake of the incident.
Talking to The Hindu , Mr. Pannu said the education department was exploring all legal remedies in the matter and would take the necessary steps to ensure that its staff was not demoralised in the present “anti-cheating drive.”
