The Supreme Court (SC) directed the Muzaffarnagar Superintendent of Police (SP) to submit a status report on the investigation in the case of a student being allegedly slapped by his classmates at the command of their teacher, today, Wednesday, September 6.

A bench, constituted by Justices Abhay S Oka and Pankaj Mithal asked the SP to inform the court about the measures the police took to protect the student and his parents.

Similarly, the apex court also issued a notification to the Uttar Pradesh government, seeking its reply on the matter by September 25.

The Supreme Court issued these notices while hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi’s PIL sought a quick investigation into the student slapping case.

The case pertains to a teacher who was accused of making Islamophobic statements against a Muslim student in her class and ordering his classmates to take turns and slap him, just for not doing his homework. Muzaffarnagar police booked the teacher after a video of the incident went viral on social media, and invited sharp criticism from netizens and the media as well as politicians. 

The teacher, Tripta Tyagi, was booked a day after the video surfaced.

The UP State Education Department even served a notice to the school, located in Khubbapur, in connection with the matter.