Muslim Student Slapped: 'I'm Handicapped, So...' Justifies UP Teacher, Denies Communal Angle

Denying any communal angle associated with the act, the accused teacher, Tripta Tyagi, alleged that, as she was handicapped, she asked some students to slap him because the boy had not been doing his homework

Outlook Web Desk

Updated on: 26 August 2023 10:07 am

Uttar Pradesh school teacher who encouraged slapping a Muslim student on Friday

After a video of a?teacher allegedly encouraging Hindu students to slap a Muslim student in UP's Muzaffarnagar went viral yesterday, the accused teacher, Tripta Tyagi, firmly denied?any communal angle in the incident. Instead she claimed that she asked some students to slap him because the boy had not been doing his homework.

What did the teacher say?

Defending herself, Tyagi alleged that?the video was edited intentionally to?project the entire incident through an imaginary lens of communal hatred .

"The child's cousin was sitting in the class. The video was recorded by him which was later distorted," she said, referring to objevtionable?words she was heard using against a community in the video.

."There was pressure from the child's parents to be strict with him. I am handicapped, so I made some students slap him so that he would start doing his homework," she said.?

Ms Tyagi said it was a "minor issue" that had been blown out of proportion after the video clip went viral. "This wasn't my intention. I am accepting my mistake, but this was unnecessarily turned into a big issue", she said.

FIR registered against teacher

According to the District Magistrate of Muzaffaarnagar, Aravind Mallappa Bangari, a First Information Report or FIR has been registered against the teacher.?

"The parents were initially not agreeing to give a complaint but this morning they gave a complaint to the local police station, and it has been registered. Legal action will be taken in the case," Mr Bangari said.

Mr Bangari said the child and his parents were counselled by the child welfare committee.

What did the boy's father say?

?boy's father, who yesterday refrained from pressing charges against the school said today, "My son is 7-years-old. This incident happened on August 24. The teacher made the students beat my child again and again. My son was tortured for an hour or two. He is scared," the child's father said today.

The video has triggered a massive outrage on social media. Politicians across the party lines also condemned the incident as a hate crime.