Manisha Roy was arrested after over 100 parents gheraoed the Gopal Math Girls’ High School premises and lodged a complaint with the Durgapur police station.

Following the outcry, the school’s CPM-backed managing committee suspended Roy, pending an inquiry. School managing committee secretary Dulal Ghosh said the committee considered Roy’s action “unacceptable”.

“We held a meeting with the parents and then took the decision (to suspend Roy). What she did, even if to enforce discipline, is unpardonable. The committee will now decide on further action. Roy has been an English teacher here since 2001,” Ghosh said.

Police said three of the five girls were from Class VI and two from Class IX. They were identified as Sunanda Hazra, Sritikona Bhattacharya and Jaya Gope (class VI); Mamoni Badyakar and Rupamoni Dibar (class IX). The matters came to a head when the students complained to their parents about the incident. Angry parents threatened to shut down the school, the police said.

Additional superintendent of police (Durgapur) Utpal Naskar said, “Roy has been arrested for inflicting mental and physical torture on the girls. The parents lodged a complaint with the police.”

Ghosh said the parents were enraged since Roy resorted to the extreme measure without complaining to them. “We have apologised to them,” Ghosh said.

Prior to her arrest, Roy reportedly admitted to the local media that she had cut the girls’ hair. “I had been warning them over the past month to wear their hair in double plaits as per the school norms. When they turned up this morning without tying double plaits and leaving their hair open, I cut off their hair to teach them a lesson and discipline them. I had no idea it would snowball into such a serious matter,” Roy said.