NHRC notice to UP chief secretary, DGP over Muzaffarnagar school slapping incident

NEW DELHI: The National Human Rights Commission on Tuesday issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government and the state police, seeking a detailed report into the Muzaffarnagar incident in which a student was slapped by his classmates on the instruction of their teacher, who also allegedly referred pejoratively to his religion.

The NHRC said it has taken suo motu cognisance of a media report about the incident. The teacher was caught on video making communal comments and asking her students to slap the class 2 student from the "Muslim" community.

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The school is located at Khubbapur village in Muzaffarnagar district. Reportedly, the boy's family has alleged he was beaten up for a mistake in the multiplication of tables, during the class. A video of the incident went viral on August 25, leading to calls for action against the teacher and the school. The panel said the contents of the media report, if true, amount to a violation of the victim's human rights.

The NHRC has issued notices to the chief secretary and the director general of police, Uttar Pradesh, seeking a detailed report in the matter within four weeks. The report should include details about the action taken against the teacher, the status of the FIR registered and the compensation, if any, paid to the aggrieved family, as well as steps taken or proposed to be initiated to prevent a repeat of such incidents, the NHRC said. It said that according to the media report, the teacher, who also owns the school, has not been arrested as on August 28.