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Synopsis

A division bench of the top court was informed today by the State of Uttar Pradesh that a chargesheet had been filed in the case relating to a primary school teacher in Muzaffarnagar instructing school children to slap their Muslim classmate, after requisite sanction was obtained.

Noting the same, a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan has directed the state to ensure a senior IPS officer handles the prosecution.

In March, the Uttar Pradesh government had told court that TISS recommended counselling was being administered to the children involved in the Muzaffarnagar Slapping incident.

Earlier, Supreme Court had come down heavily on the Uttar Pradesh government over its delay in providing counselling to the child from Muzaffarnagar to deal with trauma caused to him after she was slapped by his classmates on instructions of their teacher.

The bench had last year asked the Uttar Pradesh government to look into counselling options for the child.

Court had also directed the Uttar Pradesh government to nominate a Senior IPS Officer for supervising the investigation into the recent incident of a Muslim child being slapped in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh.

A division bench of the Supreme Court had issued notice in the instant plea on September 6, 2023. Controversy erupted after a video of the incident went viral on social media. Notably, the accused teacher, Tripta Tyagi, had referred to the boy’s faith and asked his classmates to beat him hard.

Tyagi, the teacher concerned was booked under Sections 323 (causing hurt) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) of the Indian Penal Code.

Case Title: Tushar Gandhi vs. State of Uttar Pradesh and Ors