"Happened Because State...": Supreme Court On Muslim Boy Slapped In UP School

The developments that followed the slapping of a Muslim schoolboy by his classmates at the behest of their teacher in Uttar Pradesh were the result of the state not doing what was expected of it after the offence was committed, the Supreme Court said today.

A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan said the state should have been concerned about how the incident happened.

The bench asked advocate Shadan Farasat, appearing for petitioner Tushar Gandhi, to give suggestions to the state government on the implementation of the recommendations of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) about counselling the boy and his classmates.

It was hearing a plea filed by Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, seeking a speedy investigation of the case.

"All this happened because the state did not do what was expected of it after the offence. The state should have been concerned about the manner in which the incident had happened. Therefore, we have raised other issues also regarding implementation of the Right to Education (RTE) Act," the bench said and posted the matter for further hearing on February 9.

During the brief hearing, senior advocate Garima Prashad, appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government, said the state's education department filed an affidavit on the implementation of the TISS report.

Mr Farasat termed the affidavit as "inadequate" and said he needs to file a detailed reply to it, especially on the implementation of the recommendations made by TISS.

The bench asked Mr Farasat to give in writing his suggestions to the state government after consulting the father of the boy who was slapped so the recommendations could be implemented.

Ms Prashad said the child who was slapped has to travel 28 km to his new school.

"Although it is for them (the child's family) to decide, I am just pointing out the fact that the small child has to travel 28 km every day to school," she said, adding it is against the mandate of the RTE Act, which stipulates that a student from Class 1 to Class 5 must live within a one-km radius while students from Class 6 to Class 8 can live within a radius of three km," Ms Prashad said.

Responding to her, Mr Farasat said, "There are no good schools in the vicinity. The school which was within the range did this to him."

The child was admitted to a private school far from his home at the request of his father following the incident. The top court had on November 6, 2023, asked the state to facilitate the boy's admission to a private school.

The bench said it will first look at the implementation of the recommendations made by TISS and then deal with aspects of the RTE.

On November 10, 2023, the top court castigated the state government for not complying with its order to depute an agency for counselling the child.

It had appointed the TISS, Mumbai to suggest the mode and manner of counselling the child and his classmates involved in the incident.

The Muzaffarnagar Police had registered a case against the woman teacher for allegedly making communal remarks against the Muslim boy and instructing his classmates to slap him for not completing his homework. The school was also served a notice by the state's education department.

The teacher was charged after a video showed her purportedly asking students to slap the boy, then a student of Class 2, and also making a communal remark.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)