Today, Friday, March 1, the Uttar Pradesh government informed the Supreme Court of the progress of the counselling programme for students who had reportedly received instructions from their teacher to slap a Muslim student for not completing his homework.
The education department filed a compliance statement stating that workshops would be held for them until April 24. Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan took note of this.
"We direct the state to file an appropriate affidavit by the end of April about the conduct of the workshops," the bench said.
The bench stated that the matter will be listed for hearing on April 15 to address the more significant concerns raised by the Supreme Court in a previous ruling about the application of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 and the regulations outlined therein, PTI reports.
The state is free to submit an affidavit on these points, according to the Supreme Court.
The state administration was criticised by the top court during its February 9 hearing for failing to provide counselling to the children who were allegedly told by their teacher to slap a classmate who hadn't completed their homework.
"There was an element of urgency in counselling. We direct the state government to immediately implement the suggestions in the TISS (Tata Institute of Social Sciences) report about the counselling of other children, who were participants and witnesses in the corporal punishment incident," the bench had said.
Previously, the Supreme Court chastised the state for failing to comply with its order to appoint a counsellor for the kid and his classmates.
The female teacher at the school in Muzaffarnagar district has also been accused of using communal slurs on the victim.
The Supreme Court had appointed the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) Mumbai, to recommend the method and manner of counselling the kid and his classmates.
The Muzaffarnagar Police had filed a case against the teacher, and the state's education department had also issued a notice to the institution. The teacher was charged after a video surfaced showing her allegedly asking students to slap a Class II child in Khubbapur hamlet and making a communal remark.
On November 6, 2023, the Supreme Court instructed the state government to aid the boy's entrance to a private school.
On October 30, 2023, the court ordered the state administration to promptly decide whether to prosecute the offending instructor.
It was considering a petition submitted by Tushar Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi's great-grandson, seeking a swift probe into the case.
