Submit report in UP child slapping case, SC tells govt

The court was hearing a petition filed by social activist Tushar Gandhi, who approached the top court in September last year after a video of the incident went viral

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Uttar Pradesh government to file within a fortnight its progress report in the case pertaining to the August 2023 incident of a teacher at a private school in Muzaffarnagar goading her students to slap their seven-year-old Muslim classmate.

The petition pointed out the lackadaisical probe by the UP police, which initially sought to prosecute the teacher, Tripta Tyagi, for minor offence of causing hurt under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) (ANI)

A bench of justices AS Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan posted the matter for hearing on April 26. “In the meantime, the additional advocate general, UP shall take instructions on steps taken to prosecute the offender,” the bench ordered.

The court was hearing a petition filed by social activist Tushar Gandhi, who approached the top court in September last year after a video of the incident went viral. The petition, filed through advocate Shadan Farasat, pointed out the lackadaisical probe by the UP police, which initially sought to prosecute the teacher, Tripta Tyagi, for minor offence of causing hurt under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

In November, the apex court had commissioned a report by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and ensured the counselling of the victim boy and his classmates.

After the victim’s father informed that since February this year, the allowance of ₹200 per month had stopped and the tuition fees for the new academic session was not paid by the state, following which he was being harassed by the school where the child was enroled after the incident, the bench agreed to take up the matter on the next date.

In January, the court had asked the state to ensure the amount payable to the victim’s father is released.

Due to the court’s intervention, stringent provisions under the Juvenile Justice Act and IPC were lodged against the teacher, Tripta Tyagi, who had allegedly referred to the boy’s faith and talked pejoratively about “Mohammedan children” as she asked other students to slap him “hard”.