Muzaffarnagar child slap case: SC seeks status report from Police on investigation, issues notice to UP govt

New Delhi [India], September 6 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought a status report from the Muzaffarnagar Superintendent of Police on the investigation in connection with the case lodged against a teacher who allegedly encouraged her students to slap a classmate.
A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Pankaj Mithal asked UP police to file the report stating measures taken to protect the student and his family and the steps taken in the investigation of the case.
The bench also issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government and posted the matter for hearing on September 25.
The direction of the top court came while hearing a PIL filed by Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, seeking speedy investigation in the student slapping case.
The Muzaffarnagar Police had lodged an FIR on August 26, a day after a purported video of the incident created an outrage on social media.
The teacher, Tripta Tyagi, was booked a day after a video showed her asking her students to slap the Class 2 boy in Khubbapur village and also making a communal remark.
The teacher was accused of making communal comments and ordering her students to slap a Muslim classmate for not doing his homework. The state education department had also served notice to the private school.
The FIR was registered against the school teacher under Section 323 (punishment for causing voluntarily hurt), and Section 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC).
The petition sought direction for a time-bound and independent investigation by the Police, and prescription of preventive and remedial measures within the school systems in relation to violence against children, including those belonging to religious minorities.