Student slap case: Children provided counselling facilities, UP govt tells SC

New Delhi: The Uttar Pradesh government on Friday apprised the Supreme Court that it has arranged counselling facilities for the children involved in the viral incident where a school teacher was seen instructing students to slap a fellow classmate from a particular community.

A bench, headed by Justice Abhay S. Oka, was apprised by Additional Advocate General (AAG) Garima Prasad that the state government has implemented the recommendations made by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in relation to the incident that occurred in UP’s Muzaffarnagar in August last year.

AAG Prasad submitted that the counselling workshops will be continued till April 24.

Taking the fresh compliance affidavit on record, the Bench, also comprising Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, posted the matter for further hearing on April 15.

In the meantime, it asked the state government to file its affidavit on the larger issue of the effective implementation of the Right to Education (RTE) Act and the rules framed thereunder.

In an earlier hearing, the top court had taken a stern view of the UP government's failure to provide counseling facilities to the children and ordered the state authorities to implement in true letter and spirit the recommendations made by TISS.

Observing that there has been complete breach of its directions, the Supreme Court had directed the UP government to file a fresh compliance affidavit before March 1.

In the viral video, fellow students were seen slapping a 7-year-old at the behest of the teacher of a private school who referred to his faith in a derogatory manner. The PIL filed in the apex court seeks directions for a time-bound and independent investigation in the incident and setting up of guidelines for preventing violence against students belonging to religious minorities in schools.