The Supreme Court on Monday observed that a teacher at a school in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar who ordered her students to slap a classmate “targeted one community” and that the state must take responsibility for the incident.

A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Pankaj Mithal made the verbal observation while hearing a petition that raised concerns over the incident of schoolkids taking turns to strike a crying Muslim student on instructions of their teacher.

The video of the incident went viral last month and sparked widespread outrage, following which an FIR was lodged against the teacher.

Also Read: Uttar Pradesh: Teacher asks students to slap Muslim classmate, his father refuses to file complaint

While hearing the plea on Monday, the bench said it had “serious objections” to the way the Uttar Pradesh Police handled the matter.

“The teacher is targeting one community. We will go deep into this. Is this the way teachers teach students – is this quality education? State must take responsibility for this incident… Has the school appointed some counselor for the child? If this incident has happened, then it should shake the conscience of the state. It’s a serious issue,” the bench said.

It also noted that at first impression, it was a case of failure on the part of the Uttar Pradesh government to comply with the provisions of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, which prohibits physical and mental harassment of students and their discrimination on the basis of religion and caste.

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The apex court directed that the investigation into the incident in Muzaffarnagar’s Khubbapur village should be supervised by a senior IPS officer nominated by the state. It also said this officer should file his report to the top court.

It also directed the state to ensure proper counselling to the boy and to the students who were dictated by the teacher to slap him, underscoring that the state could not expect the child to continue in the same school. The boy has since been admitted to another school.

Also Read: UP: Muzzafarnagar teacher claims slap incident a ‘conspiracy’, booked

What is the case?

A video of a Muslim boy being slapped by his classmates on the directions of teacher Tripta Tyagi went viral in the last week of August.

The boy was subjected to humiliation because he could not apparently memorise the multiplication table of five. The teacher was also heard making communal slurs.

Tyagi has been booked under Indian Penal Code Sections 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) on the complaint of the boy’s family.

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In her defence, Tyagi claimed the clip was tampered with to give a communal tinge and that the video was shot by the student’s uncle.

She admitted her action was wrong, but said she asked other students to punish the boy because she was physically challenged.