Boy slapped by classmates on teacher's orders moves to new school

The school boy in Uttar Pradesh slapped by his classmates on the instructions of their teacher, allegedly for his Islamic identity, is moving to another private school a few kilometres from Khubbapur village, the Jamiat-e-Ulema Hind said on Monday.

Maulana Mukarram, district president of the organisation, on Monday told PTI that Jamiat-e-Ulema Hind has undertaken to sponsor the boy's education and arranged for his admission to an "English-medium school" in a nearby town.

He said the organisation has hired a vehicle to ferry the boy to and from the new school where he has been admitted to upper KG and asserted that the Jamiat-e-Ulema Hind will sponsor his education for as long as he wants to study.

Mukarram said members of the Jamiat-e-Ulema Hind had visited the boy's family on Sunday on the direction of its president, Arshad Madani.

The boy's father and members of the organisation visited the new school on Monday and completed the admission procedure, he added.

A video of the boy being slapped by his classmates on the direction of the school teacher, who was also seen making objectionable remarks against Muslims, went viral on social media on Friday, 25 August, triggering outrage in India. The teacher, Tripta Tyagi has been booked under two bailable sections of the Indian Penal Code based on an FIR.

The school remained closed for the third day on Monday, with its management saying they were busy replying to the show cause notices served to it by the education department over the school's affiliation.

Basic shiksha adhikari Shubham Shukla told PTI that the school was sent a show cause notice on Saturday over its affiliation and has been asked to submit its reply on Monday on the issue.

The school had received affiliation for three years in 2019. Despite the affiliation expiring last year, the management reportedly did not try to get it renewed, he said.

Shukla also said the school will not be closed and normal teaching activities will continue in the interests of students until an alternative arrangement can be made.

The teacher, Tripta Tyagi, was booked under sections 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the IPC on a complaint by the boy's family.

Tyagi, in her defence, had said the clip had been tampered with to give a communal colour to the matter and claimed that the video was shot by the student's uncle.

She had, however, admitted that getting the student slapped by his classmates was wrong, but said it was because she was physically challenged and was not able to stand up and reach the student herself.

The boy's father told media that his son was taken to Meerut for a medical checkup on Sunday after he complained of sleeplessness, but said that the boy has returned and is now "normal".