{
  "id": 5608177,
  "title": "Kolkata school teacher suspended for asking student to wipe off tilak: Adhikari",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/04/kolkata-school-teacher-suspended-for-asking-student-to-wipe-off-tilak",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-04T17:24:32.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Hindustan Times",
    "slug": "hindustan-times",
    "url": "https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/kolkata-school-teacher-suspended-for-asking-student-to-wipe-off-tilak-adhikari-101788542672621.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Kolkata's Holy Mission English Medium School has suspended a teacher and initiated a police investigation after a student alleged she compelled him to remove his sandalwood tilak from his forehead. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari disclosed the disciplinary action during a press conference on Friday. The teacher, who works at the institution since its establishment 25 years ago in New Alipore, South Kolkata, allegedly forced the boy to wash off the tilak multiple times. The school, affiliated to the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education and housing approximately 1,200 students and 60 staff members, was notified of the teacher's suspension following a complaint lodged by a Class 5 student. The school's secretary, S Chowdhury, revealed that the teacher explained the situation to the school's disciplinary committee, which subsequently suspended her pending the resolution by the management committee. Chowdhury further stated that around 80% of the students are non-Bengalis, predominantly Hindus, and many of them wear tilaks. The school has a policy of not interfering with students' religious practices. The police filed a First Information Report (FIR) against the teacher, although the school was unaware of this development until they viewed the chief minister's press conference video. Adhikari also announced the suspension of a state employee, Paromita Sen, from Bikash Bhawan in Salt Lake, for posting objectionable content about Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media.",
  "summary": "S Chowdhury, the school’s secretary, told HT that the action was taken after the institution received a notice from the district inspector (DI) of schools on Thursday",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}