Muzaffarnagar Student Slapping Case| Supreme Court Asks UP Govt To Find Sponsor For Victim Child's School Expenditures

Today, during the hearing, when Senior Advocate Garima Prasad submitted on behalf of the State that one of the NGOs has come forward to handle the expenditures, Justice Abhay S Oka responded by saying:

“This is actually vague. Somebody must come forward and say that they will take care of the child (of) entire expenditure till school education comes to an end. This is not the way. This will not serve the purpose”

Pursuant to this, the Bench, also comprising Justice Augustine George Masih, posted the matter for further hearing on September 2 to enable the State to make more efforts to get a sponsor.

The present case revolves around an incident where a teacher at a school in Muzaffarnagar asked her students to slap a Muslim student and uttered communal slurs against him. Following the incident, a public interest litigation (PIL) was filed by activist Tushar Gandhi, seeking a proper and time-bound investigation into the incident. A detailed background can be seen here.

After the slapping incident, the student was shifted to a private school. Previously, the Court had directed the State of Uttar Pradesh to nominate an appropriate senior IPS officer to conduct the prosecution properly. The direction was passed after Additional Solicitor General N. Venkataraman informed that the chargesheet in this case had been filed.

In earlier proceedings, the Court had also heard an application filed by the father of the victim child. The application included prayers for reimbursement of the child's tuition fees, transportation and for providing stationary, school uniform, and similar things. Regarding this, the Court had ordered the State to file an affidavit in regard to the compliance of these prayers.

The Court had also recorded the State's submission that it is in the process of finding an appropriate NGO that will be able to help the cause of the child. Further, Prasad also informed the Court that a request had been made to Sharden Public School to adopt the child. In view of this, the Court had earlier ordered:

“We are sure that if a request is made by the State to Sharden public school to adopt the child, the school authority will consider sympathetically considering the facts of the case, for considering prayer clause d and larger issue raised by in order dated September..., 2023. List on 26th July.”

The Court is also slated to hear the issue concerning compliance with the Right to Education Act (RTE), which prohibits physical and mental harassment of students and discrimination on the basis of religion and caste.

In its September order, the Court had observed that there was “prima facie failure on the part of the State” to comply with the mandate of this Act.

Case Details: Tushar Gandhi v. State of Uttar Pradesh, Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 406 of 2023