Supreme Court slams UP police for omitting allegations in FIR over teacher asking students to slap Muslim classmate

The Supreme Court on Monday took exception to the manner in which the Uttar Pradesh (UP) Police and government were handling the probe into the case where school students were allegedly goaded by a teacher to slap a Muslim classmate as punishment [Tushar Gandhi vs State of Uttar Pradesh and ors]..A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Pankaj Mithal noted that that first information report (FIR) in the matter did not include some key allegations.."We take serious objections to the way the FIR was filed. The father had made a statement saying allegations were made and he was beaten due to religion. But this is not mentioned in the FIR. Next is, where is video transcript? This is about quality education. Quality education includes sensitive education. The manner in which it has happened should shake the conscience of the State," Justice Oka said..Additional Solicitor General (ASG) KM Nataraj, representing the UP government, told the Court that the 'communal angle' in the case was blown out of proportion. "There was a communal angle blown out of proportion. Something is there," he said.."Not just something, it is very serious. The teacher gave mandate to beat the child because of his religion. What kind of education is being imparted?" Justice Oka shot back..The top court, therefore, directed that the probe into the case should be headed by a senior Indian Police Services (IPS) officer nominated by the State government.The Court also ordered that the officer should examine whether the offence of hate speech under Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code is made out."After a long delay an FIR has been registered on September 6, 2023, alleging commission of offences under Section 75 of Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, and Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 503 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC have been invoked. Petitioner contends offence is also of 75(2) of JJ Act and 153A (promoting enmity between different groups) of the IPC. The probe shall be supervised by a senior police officer nominated by the State government to look into whether these two offences deserve to be invoked. The IPS officer so invited shall submit a report to this court," the Court ordered..The Court was hearing a plea filed by the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi seeking action against the school teacher concerned. The petitioner sought a time-bound and independent probe into the case as well as remedial actions to be taken by schools to tackle violence against children including those belonging to religious minorities.The petitioner also urged the Court to direct the State police to ensure that a criminal case is registered by invoking all applicable criminal law provisions and not just "relatively innocuous" offences.The petitioner further called for the authorities to be directed "to take all consequent actions, including arrest of the school teacher.".The teacher at the center of the controversy, Tripta Tyagi, is said to have referred to a Muslim student's religion and spoken pejoratively about Muslim children while asking his classmates to beat him hard.The video of the incident went viral on social media.The private school school in question in the district's Khubbapur village was later sealed. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights later asked the Uttar Pradesh Police to lodge an FIR against Tyagi.The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) also took suo motu cognisance of the incident.Tyagi was booked under Sections 323 (causing hurt) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), as per the Indian Express.She eventually released a video statement asserting that while she may have made a mistake, there is no communal angle to the incident..During today's hearing, the Court said that the teaching authorities prima facie failed to comply with the mandate under the Right to Education Act (RTE Act)."We may note that there is a complete bar on physical and mental harassment of children (under the Act). If parents are also made to bear the brunt, then it is the worst form, since here teachers directed other students also. There cannot be any quality education if a student is sought to be penalised only on the grounds that he belongs to a particular community", the bench said.It directed the State government to ensure that proper counselling is extended to the victim-child as well as the classmates by a professional counsellor..The State was also directed to file a report as to what facilities it will extend to the victim of the offence under the RTE Act for his quality education, including for shifting to a new school and for his protection. The case will be heard next on October 30. The Secretary of the State Education Department was also impleaded in the matter and asked to file necessary reports..Advocate Shadan Farasat appeared for the petitioner.