The Supreme Court on April 15 asked the Uttar Pradesh government to clarify measures taken to prosecute a school teacher in Muzaffarnagar who goaded the classmates of a seven-year-old Muslim boy to slap him repeatedly while making communal remarks.
In March, a Bench headed by Justice A.S. Oka had made sure that the State government took expert help from agencies such as HAQ, Muskan and Childline in counselling the child and his classmates after the traumatic episode. The court noted in the order that the State was “substantially complying” with its directions regarding the nature and depth of the counselling sessions. The court had made it clear to the State that the exercise should not be reduced to a cosmetic one.
The court’s intervention had led the child to be transferred out of the school, which was really operating from the teacher’s house, to a proper one. The State had agreed to pitch in with the child’s educational expenses. However, the boy’s father had complained that the State had turned unresponsive. The court agreed to hear his applications.
