UP Police Biased Roll: Muslim Teacher Held but No Action against Hindu Teacher for Similar Offence
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 28: Taking prompt action, the Uttar Pradesh police on Thursday arrested a school teacher “for inciting communal hatred” after she was allegedly ordered a Muslim student to slap a Hindu classmate for not answering a question.
The political observers said the incident in Sambhal district was a reflection of how the police administration in BJP-ruled UP have been acting in a highly biased manner. The arrested teacher in Sambhal district was a Muslim while in the case of a similar incident in Muzaffarnagar district last month, no action has yet been taken against the Hindu teacher who had asked the Hindu students to slap their Muslim classmate.
The government’s inaction in the case forced the Supreme Court earlier this week to comment that there could not be any quality education if a student was sought to be penalised on the ground that he belongs to a particular community. It had pulled up the UP government for shoddy probe in the Muzaffarnagar case and directed the UP government to appoint a senior IPS officer within a week to probe the case.
About the Sambhal incident, the police said the incident took place at a private school on Tuesday in Dugawar village under the Asmoli police station limits in Sambhal district. On the basis of a complaint filed by the Hindu boy’s father, the teacher, Shaista, was booked under IPC sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, etc) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), Additional SP Shrish Chandra said.
The accused teacher has been arrested, the official added. The boy’s father alleged that his son is a student of class 5 in the school where his class teacher got him slapped by a Muslim student after he could not answer a question asked by her. In his complaint, the father said this hurt his son’s religious feelings. A probe is on in the matter, Additional SP Chandra said.
In a similar incident at Khubbapur village in Muzaffarnagar last month, the accused teacher Tripta Tyagi of a private school had got a Muslim child slapped in a class by his classmates for not doing homework. A case was registered against the accused teacher under IPC sections 323 (voluntary causing hurt) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace). But no further action was taken.
The UP Education Department had sought a detailed response from the school. A top official said the school was asked to submit its response by the evening of August 28 after which a decision will be taken on its future. “The department committee will look into the school’s response and take a decision – whether to withdraw its recognition and shut the school permanently,” said Sanjay Bharti, Block Education Officer, Muzaffarnagar.
But it is more than a month now, but no action was forthcoming. The official had also said the department would also facilitate the transfer of students studying in Neha Public School to other schools. “The children studying in the school will be admitted in other schools by the officials of the Education Department so that their studies are not affected,” Mr Bharti said. Neha Public School is affiliated to the basic education department of the Uttar Pradesh government. Currently, 50 students study in the school.
Tripta Tyagi – who is also the principal of the Neha Public School, was seen in a video in the social media making communal remarks while asking students to slap the 7-year-old as he stood helplessly with tears streaming down his face. The teacher had also said she was not “ashamed” of her egregious act. “I am not ashamed. I have served the people of this village as a teacher. They all are with me,” Ms Tyagi had said. She sought to justify her action, saying that it’s important to “control” the kids at school.
Ms Tyagi had earlier dismissed the row over the viral video as a “minor issue.” “This wasn’t my intention. I am accepting my mistake, but this was unnecessarily turned into a big issue,” she had said.
The video had triggered a massive outrage on social media. Politicians across the party lines also condemned the incident as a hate crime, targeting the ruling BJP government in the state. The UP’s Deputy Chief Minister Brijesh Pathak had said: “We have taken cognizance and full action will be taken.”
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