The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Uttar Pradesh government to facilitate the admission of a student who had allegedly been slapped by his classmates at the direction of a teacher for failing to complete his homework in Muzaffarnagar district to a private school.
The state’s education department informed a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Pankaj Mithal that they were in the process of forming a committee to consider the admission of the victim child to a private CBSE-affiliated school. The department’s counsel mentioned that they had jurisdiction only over schools affiliated with the UP board.
Justice Oka responded, “Why do you need to appoint a committee for the child’s admission? What purpose does the committee serve? Simply contact your senior officer, and they can liaise with the school’s principal regarding the admission. There is no need to take such a stance before the court. Given the circumstances of the case, I believe no school will refuse admission. Please inform us about the compliance by Friday.” Advocate Shadan Farasat, representing petitioner Tushar Gandhi, stated that the boy’s father desired admission to a private CBSE school but was encountering difficulties.
To begin with, additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj, representing the state government, informed the court that they were searching for child psychologists at King George’s Medical University, Lucknow, to provide counseling to the child and other students at the school. The bench suggested that it would address the matter on Friday and proposed that child psychologists from the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) would be better equipped to handle the situation.
Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, has requested a prompt investigation into the case. On October 30, the Supreme Court instructed the Uttar Pradesh government to promptly decide on granting sanction to prosecute the school teacher accused of instructing her students to slap the Muslim child.
The top court referenced the victim’s father’s affidavit, which stated that the child was “severely traumatized,” and requested Nataraj to ascertain the availability of expert agencies like NIMHANS and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, which could visit the victim’s village and provide counseling to him and other school children.
On September 25, the Supreme Court emphasized that quality education cannot be achieved if a student is penalized based on their community affiliation. It criticized the state government for a “shoddy investigation” into the case where a Muslim schoolboy was slapped by his classmates allegedly at the behest of his teacher.
Expressing displeasure over the incident, the top court directed the UP government to appoint a senior IPS officer within a week to investigate the case. The IPS officer was instructed to submit a report to the apex court, as stated by the bench.
The Muzaffarnagar Police had filed a case against the teacher for allegedly making communal remarks against the Muslim boy and instructing his classmates to slap him. The state education department also issued a notice to the school. The teacher was booked after a video surfaced showing her purportedly instructing students to slap the Class 2 boy in Khubbapur village and making a communal remark.