Slapping of Muslim student: Supreme Court tells State to find sponsor for child's schooling expenses

The Supreme Court has ordered the Uttar Pradesh (UP) government to find a sponsor to cover the educational expenses of the Muslim child from Muzaffarnagar who was slapped by his classmates, allegedly at their teacher's behest [Tushar Gandhi vs State of Uttar Pradesh and ors]..A Bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih added that the State should ensure that the child continues in the same school."Child's education expenses should be taken care of till the end of his schooling. You have to get a sponsor and ensure he continues in the same school," the Court said.In its order, the Bench noted:"As of today, we find that the respondent-State is not able to find out a proper sponsor for the child to take care of expenditure on his education till the end of school education. To enable the respondent-State to make more efforts to get the sponsor and to enable us to hear the matter on other issues which we have already flagged, list on 2nd September, 2024.".The UP government had been given two weeks to file a compliance affidavit in this regard..The Court was hearing a plea filed by Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, seeking action against a school teacher named Tripta Tyagi for allegedly goading students to slap a Muslim student.Tyagi is said to have made derogatory remarks about the Muslim student's religion and instigated classmates to beat him in a viral video.The incident had sparked outrage after a video of the child being slapped went viral on social media. The school where the incident took place was later sealed.The teacher later released a video denying any communal angle but acknowledging that she made a mistake.The plea by Tushar Gandhi had sought a time-bound and independent probe into the matter as well as measures to address violence against religious minority students.In October 2023, the Uttar Pradesh government told the Supreme Court that the school teacher who allegedly egged the students to slape their classmate may face charges under Section 295A (deliberate and malicious acts that are intended to outrage religious feelings) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). In February this year, the Supreme Court took strong exception to the lackadaisical response of the Uttar Pradesh government in the matter, particularly on its failure to provide counselling to the children who were allegedly made to slap their classmate.During earlier hearings, the Court had also taken exception to the manner in which the Uttar Pradesh Police omitted key allegations in the initial first information report (FIR) filed in the case..Additional Advocates General Garima Prashad and Sharan Dev Singh Thakur appeared for the State of UP today.Advocates Shadan Farasat, Natasha Maheshwari, Aman Naqvi, Harshit Anand, Abhishek Babbar, Shadab Azhar, Prannv Dhawan, and Niharika Srivastava appeared for Gandhi..Muzaffarnagar Muslim child slapping case: UP government did not do what it was expected to do, says Supreme Court.[Read order]