Notice issued to the Uttar Pradesh government seeking status of investigation being conducted against the teacher accused of making communal remarks in a Muzaffarnagar school.
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ON Wednesday, the Supreme Court issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government on a petition filed by Tushar Gandhi, seeking a proper and fair investigation into the Muzaffarnagar incident.
On August 25, a video in which a teacher at a Muzaffarnagar school made communal remarks and provoked the students to beat their Muslim classmate went viral.
In this apparent case of hate crime, a first information report (FIR) was subsequently registered by the Uttar Pradesh police under Sections 323 and 504 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.
Today, a Bench comprising Justices Abhay S. Oka and Pankaj Mithal directed the police to apprise the Bench of the status of the investigation against the teacher, Tripta Tyagi.
The Bench also directed the superintendent of police, Muzaffarnagar to take steps to protect the victim child and his parents.
The petition also seeks guidelines on preventive and remedial measures within the school systems to prevent violence against children.
Advocate Shadan Farasat appeared for Gandhi who is the great-grandson of M.K. Gandhi.
The matter is now listed for September 24.
Earlier, the National Human Rights Commission had also issued a notice to the government on the matter.
Notably, on August 28, the Uttar Pradesh police had registered an FIR against Mohammad Zubair, co-founder of Alt News for allegedly disclosing the identity of the victim-child.
The FIR was registered under Section 74 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, which prohibits the disclosure of identity of children in conflict with law, or who are victims or witnesses.