Campus occupation row in Kolkata: CISF stays for 16 months, Tangra Chinese school moves HC before New Year
Times of India | 13 January 2026
KOLKATA: One of the city’s last remaining Chinese schools in Kolkata’s Chinatown, in Tangra, moved Calcutta High Court, pleading that CISF personnel deployed for RG Kar Medical College & Hospital’s security since the Aug 2024 gang rape and murder of a junior doctor there be asked to vacate the campus.
According to entrepreneur Monica Liu, a leading voice of the Chinese community in Tangra, the govt initially approached her with the request that Pei May Chinese High School be allowed to house CISF personnel for just two months.
Sixteen months have passed since, but three companies of CISF still occupy 18 classrooms in the three-storey building without a formal notice or a request for an extension of the stay. No rent or electricity bill has been paid to date.
“When an officer from Tangra police station approached us and asked if we could allow central forces to be housed in the school for two months, we readily agreed,” said Liu, who is involved in the administration of the school, which has few students since 2010 but serves as a community space and a place of worship.
“Being Indians, we feel it is our duty to help the govt. But there was no formal letter from the govt seeking its use. The school was simply taken over on Sept 16, 2024, through a requisition letter sent by the special commissioner, state home and hills affairs department,” she said.
The very next day, Lui said, the community wrote to the official at Nabanna and pointed out that “while we were letting the school to be used for two months, it serves as the community centre and place of worship, and that it should be vacated before the Chinese New Year in 2025. Another New Year is approaching, and we want the school back”.
This year, the celebrations at Chinatown are scheduled for a fortnight from Feb 12. In the run-up to the New Year, the school premises are used by local clubs for practising dragon dance and playing drums. During the festival, the grounds are used for various programmes.
The school’s president, KC Liu, said PWD constructed 10 toilets and 10 bathrooms on the school grounds without seeking permission from the authorities. Additional electricity points were also installed. The school meter is being used and an additional sub-meter has been installed. “To date, the unpaid electricity bill amounts more than Rs 4 lakh,” said the school president.
“Several letters were sent to the state govt, but we have not received a reply. We, therefore, had no alternative but to move court to reclaim the school, which is an integral part of the Kolkata Chinese community and Hakka culture.”
Sources said the state govt had last year asked CISF to vacate the premises, but the force continued to stay put.
Advocate on record Sachindananda Panda, who appeared for the petitioner, said that at the last hearing on Jan 2, CISF filed an affidavit pointing out that it spent Rs 50 lakh on the premises to make it habitable.
Following this, Justice Krishna Rao questioned on whose authority work was done and whether any permission was taken from the school authorities, before asking the school to be vacated within 45 days.
“The respondents argued that since the RG Kar matter is pending before the court, the CISF cannot vacate the school. To this, the judge asked them to produce an order that states the premises taken for two months cannot be vacated even after 16 months. The final hearing is on Jan 14,” said Panda.
Pei May Chinese High School was founded in the late 1940s by community leaders like Lee Youn Chin to teach Chinese language and culture. While it had over 1,000 students in its heyday, the number of students declined after many families, particularly the young, migrated to Canada, Australia, and other places abroad. There were recent efforts to revive it as a Chinese language and studies centre.