Anger in India after school teacher makes her students take turns to slap Muslim boy

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Louise Thomas

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Footage that appears to show a school teacher in India encouraging students to take turns to hit a Muslim boy has triggered shock and anger around the world.

An undated video allegedly shows Tripta Tyagi, a teacher at Neha Public School in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, asking other children to hit a Muslin child who is in tears. Ms Tyagi then scolds the students for not hitting the child harder.

She is heard saying in the video, “jor se maaro naa… (Why don’t you hit him harder?)” as the child stands frozen in front of the class and his classmates walk up to him one by one to slap him across the face.

A First Information Report – the first step in launching a police investigation in India – was filed after an outpouring of anger on social media.

Dr Ravi Shankar, circle officer of Khatauli range in Muzaffarnagar, later said that the police were aware of a video in which children made to hit a classmate “who had not finished his school work”.

Muzaffarnagar district magistrate Aravind Mallappa Bangari said a complaint has been registered and the education department will also take action against the school. He appealed to residents to maintain peace and also said the children were being counselled and strict action will be taken against those involved.

However, in a separate video that later surfaced on social media, the teacher attempted to defend herself by saying that since she was disabled and could not get up to hit the child herself, so she made her other students do it. She claimed her act did not have any religious bias.

“I made a mistake by getting the child beaten up by the students. I am handicapped and could not get up,” Ms Tyagi said. She claimed that the video was tampered with and only a portion of what she said was shown in it.

“There was pressure from the child’s parents to be strict with him. The child’s cousin was sitting in the class. The video was recorded by him which was later distorted,” she said.

But many people on social media were unconvinced and called for strict action against Ms Tyagi. All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi said: “The video from Muzaffarnagar where a teacher is asking her students to slap a Muslim boy is a product of the last nine years. The message being drilled into the minds of little children is that one can beat up and humiliate a Muslim without any repercussions.”

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor wrote: “This is unbelievable. I cannot believe this is happening in our country and the people concerned are not in jail. All Indians must hang our heads in shame that this is what all our constitutional rights and freedoms can be reduced to.”

Priyank Kanungo, chair of the National Commission for Protection Of Child Rights, asked social media users not to share the video. “Taking cognizance, instructions are being issued for action, everyone is requested not to share the video of the child, give information about such incidents by email, do not become a part of the crime by revealing the identity of the children.”

Mr Shankar told the Indian Express that the private school was being run in a large hall and the teacher was also its owner. “Tripta Tyagi is the head of the school. We are trying to convince the child’s father to file a complaint; after that we would be able to file an FIR. Further legal action is being taken,” he told the newspaper.

The victim’s father told reporters that he was withdrawing his child from the school. “I will not send my child to that school again and they will return the fee that I have submitted.”

“The school is registered under the name Neha Public School for classes 1 to 5. We will investigate what standards the school is following and if any irregularities are found, action will be taken,” Shubham Shukla, basic education officer of Muzaffarnagar, told a newspaper. “It is clear in the video that the teacher is instigating the children to beat a child … The school received affiliation in 2019; we will check if it was renewed and if the school was being run as per standards set by the government,” he said.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi wrote in Hindi: “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 [Bharatiya Janata Party] 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.”

Tensions have remained high between the two communities after a recent string of clashes. The incident comes on the heels of religious riots in the northern Haryana state when Hindus and Muslims clashed with each other in Nuh district during a religious procession by a Hindu nationalist group. Tensions later spilled over to Gurugram, some 30km from New Delhi, where mobs torched a mosque and killed a Muslim cleric. An elderly Muslim couple was beaten to death in Uttar Pradesh over their son’s relationship with a Hindu woman.