On the incident of a schoolboy being slapped in Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh (UP), the Supreme Court on Monday, September 25, said that if a student is penalised on the grounds of belonging to a particular community, then there cannot be any quality education.
Questioning quality education
The statement was said while the court pulled up the Uttar Pradesh government for a shoddy probe in a case where a Muslim schoolboy was allegedly slapped by his classmates on the instruction of his teacher, according to PTI reports.
"The teacher asked the students to beat the victim because of his religion. What kind of education is being imparted?" said the bench.
They also voiced displeasure over the entire incident and directed the UP government to appoint a senior IPS officer to probe the incident.
Court displeased with state police
The apex court also expressed displeasure on the manner in which the FIR was registered after a long delay and the status report that was filed by the Muzaffarnagar Superintendent of Police.
"Only a cognisable report was filed initially and the FIR was registered after a long delay on September 6, almost two weeks after the incident," said the bench comprising Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Pankaj Mithal. They further mentioned that the father's allegations were not recorded by the police.
State to carry out orders effectively
Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj, appearing for the UP government, said the communal angle in the case was blown out of proportion, but the bench refused to agree with the solicitor's statement as they said that there is a video of the incident.
The court also pointed out the fact that the counselling of the boy and other students were carried out by the district welfare officer, whereas, this should have been carried out by professional counsellors.
"We also want to know when the charge sheet will be filed and what protection is given to the witnesses and the victim," the bench told Nataraj, and asked him to file a report.
The bench also said that the UP government is to take responsibility for the education of the child, and as per the Right to Education (RTE) Act, the state cannot expect the child to continue in the same school. It also ordered the local authorities to look into such cases as no child can be discriminated against the ground of caste, class, rleigion and be subjected to abuse any further.
The bench said after looking at all the reports on October 30, it will consider whether any further directions are required to be issued.
