Student slap case: 'Incident should shock the conscience of state', observes SC

New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Monday orally remarked that the incident in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar should "shock the conscience of the state” if the viral video of a school teacher instructing students to slap a fellow classmate from a particular community is found to be true.

A bench comprising Justices Abhay S. Oka and Pankaj Mithal pulled up Uttar Pradesh Police for initially filing an NCR report on a complaint lodged by the victim's father despite commission of cognizable offence.

Terming the incident as “serious”, the bench ordered that a senior IPS officer will conduct a probe in the FIR lodged after a delay of two weeks. The top court apparently appeared surprised by the absence of communal allegations or transcript of contents of the viral video in the FIR.

Further, it observed that prima facie the state government failed to comply with the mandate of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, where corporal punishment and any kind of discrimination on the basis of religion is strictly prohibited.

“There cannot be any quality education if a student is sought to be penalised only on the ground that he belongs to a particular community,” the apex court remarked.

It asked the state government to furnish a status report on implementation of the RTE Act and directed it to provide counselling of the victim and other students by professional counsellors.

Also, it repelled the objections raised by the state government on locus of the PIL petitioner -- Tushar Gandhi, a social activist and the great grandson of Mahatma Gandhi.

On September 6, the Supreme Court had asked the Uttar Pradesh Police to file a report regarding the status of investigation and measures taken to protect the victim and his family.

A video went viral from Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar where 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 an absurd manner.

The plea filed in the Supreme Court sought 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.