BackMuzaffarnagar school slap video: SC raps Uttar Pradesh govt, says ‘should shock conscience of state’
The Supreme Court also noted that this was the ‘worst kind of physical punishment imparted by a teacher in as much as the teacher directed other students to assault the victim’
PremiumOver a month after a harrowing video surfaced about a school in Uttar Pradesh's Muzzaffarnagar, wherein a toddler was seen standing perplexed getting slapped by his classmates, the Supreme Court of India has hit out at Yogi Adityanath's Uttar Pradesh government and called the incident a ‘failure on the part of the state’.
A Supreme Court judge said, “State must take responsibility for the education of the child. If the allegations are true, this should shock the conscience of the state", as reported by Live Law.
The case was being heard by Supreme Court bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Justice Pankaj Mithal. The bench of justices directed the Uttar Pradesh government to appoint a senior IPS officer to probe the case, terming the incident as "serious".
Uttar Pradesh's Neha Public School Class 2 student was slapped for an hour by his classmates on the direction of principal Tripta Tyagi because he did not study his multiplication tables.
The video of the incident that became viral on social media shows a small boy standing in tears while the Neha Public Schools' principal Tripta Tyagi urges students to beat up the child citing his Muslim identity.
In her defence, Neha Public School principal, Tripta Tyagi, has said that the video has been tampered with in order to stoke tensions.
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Omittance of Communal Targetting
On Monday the Supreme Court highlighted several lacunae in the probe of the slapping incident that shook the nation. The apex court mentioned that the First Information Report (FIR) that was registered had omitted the communal angle as pointed by the father of the child and was evident from the video.
"We have serious objection to the manner in which FIR is registered", Justice Oka orally said.
"In the first complaint by the father, he has alleged that teacher is making objectionable comments against a particular religion. In so-called non-cognizable report, same allegations are there. In the FIR, these allegations are not there", the judge said.
The judge also asked about the absence of the the transcript of the video in the FIR.
Shoddy probe by UP government
The Supreme Court also rapped the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath government for conducting a shoddy probe of the matter. "Considering the manner in which the police have taken action, and especially in the light of the fact that though a cognizable offence was committed and a NCR was registered, investigation shall be done by a senior IPS level officer nominated by the State Government within one week. The officer so nominated shall go into the question whether proviso to Sec 75 of the JJ Act and 153A IPC have to be invoked" the SC said as reported by Live Law.
The SC asked UP government to appoint a senior IPS officer to probe the case
Right to Education and Counselling
The Supreme Court asked Uttar Pradesh government to provide a report on the Right to Education Act (RTE) in the state, besides ensuring proper counselling for the victim child and other students involved in the incident.
The bench asked the state government to conduct counselling of the victim and other students, who were involved in the case, by professional counsellors.
It said there is a prima facie case of failure on the part of the Uttar Pradesh government in complying with the provisions of the RTE Act, which deals with providing quality, free and compulsory education to children up to 14 years, without any discrimination on the basis of caste, creed or gender.
The court had also issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government and sought its reply by 25 September.
The matter will be considered next on October 30.
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