The Supreme Court on Friday ordered the Uttar Pradesh government to task a senior Indian Police Service officer with the responsibility to ensure that a case concerning the slapping of a Muslim boy in Muzaffarnagar by his classmates on the orders of their teacher is prosecuted without any hitches.
A Bench headed by Justice A.S. Oka passed the order after the State government informed the court that a chargesheet has been filed in the case.
“Considering the nature of the FIR, the Home Department will nominate an appropriate senior IPS officer to ensure that prosecution is properly conducted by the State,” the Bench ordered.
On April 15, the Bench had asked the State government to clarify measures taken to prosecute the case against the teacher.
The court is monitoring the case and had made sure in March that the State government took expert help from agencies like HAQ, Muskan and Childline in counselling the child and his classmates after the traumatic episode.
The court’s intervention had led the child to be transferred out of the school, which was operating from the teacher’s house, to a proper one. The State had agreed to pitch in with the child’s educational expenses.
The court has consistently blamed the State government for its failure to provide a safe environment, recognised schools and qualified teachers for children in accordance with the Right to Education Act.
The Act mandates quality, free and compulsory education for children up to 14 years without any discrimination on the basis of caste, creed or gender.
The court had flagged the slapping incident as “very serious” and a direct violation of Article 21A (the fundamental right of a child to free and compulsory education) of the Constitution, the Right to Education Act and even the Uttar Pradesh Rules which task the local authorities to ensure that children do not face discrimination in classrooms.
The court said it would separately take up the larger issue of the implementation of the Right to Education Act in Uttar Pradesh.
