‘An FIR has already been registered’: UP Deputy CM on Muzzafarnagar viral slapping incident

LUCKNOW : Amid the outrage over a viral video, purportedly showing a schoolteacher instructing students to slap a classmate from the minority community at a school in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak on Saturday the local administration has taken a serious note of the matter and an FIR has been registered in connection with the alleged incident.

Speaking to ANI on Saturday, Deputy CM Pathak said, “Our government stands with every child in the state. We are committed to maintaining law and order in the state. We have taken a serious note of the matter and an FIR has already been registered.”

The UP deputy CM added, “We are aware of our responsibility to ensure the safety of our children and access to quality education.”

In the viral clip, the students are purportedly seen taking turns slapping the child as he stands in a corner and weeps.

The video sparked outrage after being widely circulated on social media.

Union Minister and local BJP MP, Sanjeev Balyan also reacted to the alleged incident, saying, “Where’s the hatred in one child beating another? Some people sitting in Delhi are bringing caste and religion into this incident. I can’t help but laugh at the Opposition leaders who are raising a hue and cry over this.”

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Tourism Minister Jaiveer Singh has assured that the police are investigating the incident and action will be taken once the investigation is complete.

Reacting to the incident, the minister said ” In the state, everyone has the right to the same level of education and ensuring this is the job and the priority of our government. The Police is probing the incident and further action will be taken once the investigation is complete.”

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, also spoke on the matter, saying, “The manner in which a teacher gets a child thrashed by other children on the basis of religious discrimination at a school in UP is a disturbing result of the hate-filled politics of the BJP-RSS.”

The incident also drew criticism from Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi who posted on X, “The video from Muzaffarnagar where a teacher is asking her students to slap a Muslim boy is a product of the last 9 years. The message being drilled into the minds of little children is that one can beat up & humiliate a Muslim without any repercussions.”

According to the police, they have seen the viral video where a woman teacher asked the students in a class to beat their classmate.
“A video was received at Mansurpur police station today wherein a woman teacher asked the students of a class to beat their classmate for not learning multiplication tables. Some objectionable comments were also there in the video,” Superintendent of Police Satyanarayan Prajapat said in a video statement on X, (formerly Twitter) on Friday.

“After investigating the video, it was found that the teacher was declaring that those Mohammedan students get spoiled whose mothers don’t pay attention to their studies (Jin Mohammedan baccho ki maa unke padhai par dhyan nahi deti hai, unn baccho ki padhai ka naash ho jata hai). The person recording the video also confirms this,” the SP said.

Regarding this incident, the Basic Education Officer has been informed and departmental action will be taken against the woman teacher,” Prajapat added.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also reacted to the viral video and said, “Sowing the poison of discrimination in the minds of innocent children, turning a holy place like school into a market place of hatred – nothing worse a teacher can do for the country. This is the same kerosene spread by the BJP which has set every corner of India on fire. Children are the future of India – do not hate them, we all have to teach love together.”
Chairperson National Commission for Protection Of Child Rights (NCPCR) Priyank Kanoongo requested not to share the video of the child.

“In Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar, the incident of a teacher getting a child beaten up by other children in the class has been reported. Taking cognizance, instructions are being issued for action, everyone is requested not to share the video of the child, give information about such incidents by email, do not become a part of the crime by revealing the identity of the children,” he wrote on X (ANI)