The Supreme Court has taken seriously the incident of a child being slapped by other children in a school in Muzaffarnagar, UP. The bench of Justices Abhay S Oak and Pankaj Mithal said that it is very wrong for this to happen to a child in the name of religion.

On August 24, in Neha Public School of Khubbapur village, teacher Tripta Tyagi got a child slapped by other children. After the video of the incident went viral, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court.

The court asked the UP government to appoint an IPS officer within a week to monitor the investigation of the case. That IPS officer should also see which sections need to be imposed in this case. A report on the investigation should be given to the Supreme Court. Besides, witnesses should also be given security. The court also said that the state government should make arrangements for the education of the slapped child in another school. Keeping in mind the impact of the incident on the children, psychological counseling should be done for the slapper and the children who were slapped.

During the hearing, the UP government opposed the filing of the petition by petitioner Tushar Gandhi, claiming himself to be the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. The UP government also said that communal issues are being exaggerated. The court did not pay attention to these things. The court said that under the Right to Education Act, it is the responsibility of the state government to provide free education to all children. Still the children are studying in unrecognized schools. In this case, there has been a delay in registering the FIR also.

The judges said that the provisions of the RTE Act clearly state that no child should face discrimination on the basis of caste, religion or gender. There should be no physical violence against any child. In this case both things were violated. The court asked the UP government to investigate the incident and file a report on the rehabilitation of the child. The next hearing of the case will be on October 30.