A bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan emphasized the imperative for the State to uphold and enforce the provisions of the Right to Education Act in both its literal interpretation and intended essence.
The Supreme Court once again expressed dissatisfaction with the Uttar Pradesh government’s lackadaisical approach towards addressing the incident where a school teacher encouraged students to slap a Muslim classmate. Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan noted that the State failed to comply with their directive to provide counseling to all the children involved in the offense. Justice Oka emphasized, ‘There has been a clear breach of our instructions as outlined in the State’s affidavit. None of the children have received counseling, despite our recommendations and the suggested organizations. It’s imperative that this be executed in both letter and spirit.’
We have perused the latest TISS report which calls for counselling of all the students who had taken part in corporal punishment as participants and witnesses. Nothing has been done by the State, it is too late in the day. We direct the State to immediately implement the directions specially for the witness children,” the bench noted in its order.
The State government was directed to file a compliance affidavit by February 28 and the case will be heard again on March 1.
The Supreme Court was hearing a plea filed by Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, seeking action against school teacher Tripta Tyagi for allegedly goading students to slap a Muslim sudent.
Tyagi allegedly made derogatory remarks about the Muslim student’s religion and instigated classmates to beat him in a viral video. The school in Khubbapur village was sealed afterward.
The teacher released a video denying any communal angle but acknowledging that she made a mistake.
The plea by Tushar Gandhi has sought a time-bound and independent probe into the matter as well as measures to address violence against religious minority students.
The Uttar Pradesh government had in October told the Supreme Court that the school teacher may face charges under Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)
Section 295A of the IPC states that any deliberate and malicious act intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs, is a punishable offence.
The Court had directed professional counselling for the student and his classmates.
It had also ordered that the victim student be admitted to a new school.
During earlier hearings, the Court had also taken exception to the manner in which the Uttar Pradesh Police and government were handling the probe into the case,
The Court had observed that the first information report (FIR) omitted key allegations and had, therefore, directed that the probe should be headed by a senior Indian Police Services (IPS) officer nominated by the State government.
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