'Should Shock The Conscience Of The State': SC Slams UP Govt On Muzaffarnagar School Slap Case

The Supreme Court on Monday slammed the Uttar Pradesh government over the incident where a Muslim boy was slapped by his fellow classmates on the insistence of a school teacher.

"This is a very serious issue. Teacher telling students to hit a classmate because they belong to a particular community! Is this quality education? State must take responsibility of the education of the child. If the allegations are true, this should shock the conscience of the state", Live Law quoted Justice Oka as saying.

A bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Justice Pankaj Mithal raised questions over the omission of the communal angle in the FIR.

"We have serious objection to the manner in which FIR is registered", Justice Oka orally stated. "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 remarked.

The judge questioned why the transcript of the video was missing in the FIR. The bench ordered that a senior police officer with an IPS ranking conduct the investigation in this case.

Additionally, the Court noted a "prima facie failure on the part of the State" to adhere to the provisions of the Right to Education Act, which prohibits both physical and mental harassment of students and discrimination based on religion and caste. The Court further remarked in the order that "If the allegation is correct, this may be the worst kind of physical punishment imparted by a teacher, inasmuch as the teacher directed other students to assault the victim."

"If the allegations are accurate, this could represent an egregious form of physical punishment administered by a teacher, as the teacher instructed other students to attack the victim."

Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj, appearing for the State of Uttar Pradesh, said that the State was not shielding anyone. However, he emphasized that the communal aspect was being exaggerated. Nevertheless, the bench appeared to hold a differing view, citing the video transcript.

"Transcript says so. This shouldn't be taken lightly. If this incident is correct - teacher telling students that he belongs to a particular community, beat him, what kind of education is being imparted?", Justice Oka said.

"The transcript indicates otherwise. We shouldn't downplay this. If this incident is accurate - a teacher instructing students to target a student based on his community - what sort of education is being provided?" Justice Oka remarked.

Taking into account the way the police have proceeded, particularly given that a cognizable offense has taken place and a Non-Cognizable Report (NCR) has been filed, a senior IPS-ranked officer designated by the State Government will conduct the investigation within a week, the court stated.

The nominated officer will scrutinize whether the proviso to Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act and Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) need to be applied.

"There cannot be any quality education if a student is sought to be penalised only on the ground that he belongs to a particular community. There is a prima facie failure on the part of the State to comply with mandatory obligations of RTE Act and rules", the bench added.

The court has directed the state government to ensure proper counselling to the victim by a professional counsellor and also to the students who were dictated to take part in the incident. "The state cannot expect the child to continue in the same school," the Supreme Court stated.

The case will come up for hearing on October 30.

Background
In August, a Muslim student in Muzaffarnagar was slapped by his classmates at the behest of their teacher, Tripta Tyagi. A video clip of the incident had gone viral.

In the clip, the victim stands before the class, while the teacher remains seated and urges fellow students to step up and slap their classmate. In succession, the students approach and strike the victim while the teacher supervises the situation.

The school was also served a notice by the education department in connection with the matter. The teacher, Tripta Tyagi, was booked on the complaint of the boy's family under IPC sections 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) -- both non-cognisable offences. Such offences are bailable and do not lead to immediate arrest, and require a warrant.

In her defence, Tyagi had earlier said the video had been tampered with in order to stoke tensions. She claimed that the video was shot by an uncle of the boy. Tyagi said though it was wrong on her part to get a student slapped by his classmates, she was forced to do it as she is handicapped and was not able to stand up and reach the student who had not done his assignment.