No Hindu Muslim Matter, Had Asked The Teacher To Discipline My Son: Father Of Muslim Boy Slapped By Classmates At Behest Of Teacher For Homework

A video showing a student being slapped by fellow classmates at the behest of a woman teacher went viral on the social media yesterday.

It was found to be from a private home-run school in Khubbapur village of Muzaffarnagar district in Uttar Pradesh, recorded around 9 am on 24 August.

The video shows a boy, who is Muslim, standing and weeping while children from his batch come to him one by one and slap him, egged on by the teacher, who is heard saying, “I have said that all those Mohammedan children…(inaudible).”

In no time, social media influencers and political leaders from Bharatiya Janata Party’s opposition parties gave the incident a communal colour, insinuating that the child was beaten up for being Muslim.

For instance, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said, “Sowing the poison of discrimination in the minds of innocent children, turning a holy place like school into a marketplace of hatred – nothing worse a teacher can do for the country. This is the same kerosene spread by the BJP which has set every corner of India on fire. Children are the future of India – do not hate them, we all have to teach love together.”

AIMIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi said that the hateful thinking of Yogi Adityanath (chief minister of UP) was responsible for the incident.

However, the father of the child, Irshad, has told the media that “there is no Hindu Muslim in the matter”.

He said that a few days ago, he had asked the teacher to discipline his son. His only complaint, he said, is that the teacher, instead of thrashing the child herself, made his classmates do so.

“We would have had no objection if it were the teacher or a senior student disciplining my child. But getting him slapped by fellow classmates was wrong. I condemn this,” he said.

Watch his statement here.

About the suspected communal remarks, Muzaffarnagar police Superintendent of Police Satyanarayan Prajapat has issued a statement. In a video uploaded from the official Twitter account of Muzaffarnagar police, the officer said that the police took notice of the viral video and the “objectionable remarks” made.

After investigation and talking to the person who recorded it, it emerged that the teacher’s full statement was this: 'I have said that all those Mohammedan children whose mothers don’t focus on their education, their education gets ruined. The person recording the video confirmed it.'

The officer said that proper action would be taken regarding the unjust punishment meted to the child.

It has also been revealed that the person recording the video was Mohammad Nadeem, the boy's 25-year-old cousin. In the video, Nadeem is heard agreeing with the statement of the teacher.

The teacher, Tripta Tyagi, in her defence told the media that she is handicapped and thus asked other children to punish the student. She said that it was the boy’s father who had asked her to discipline him.

In revelations of these facts, it seems that the incident is one of child abuse and corporal punishment and not a communal hate crime as it has been made out to be on social media and BJP’s opposition. The Muzaffarnagar police, meanwhile, have filed a case against the teacher. It is yet unclear under which IPC sections has the case been filed.

The national child commission has further directed the Muzaffarnagar District Magistrate (DM) to take action in the case under Section 17 (child being subjected to physical punishment/mental harassment) of the RTE Act, 2009.