Muzaffarnagar Video: FIR Against Teacher Who Made Class 2 Students Slap Muslim Classmate

Uttar Pradesh Police have proposed a departmental inquiry against a teacher of a private school in Khubbapur village who was filmed making communal comments and ordering her Class 2 students to slap their Muslim classmate. The teacher, Tripti Tyagi, was booked by Muzaffarnagar Police on Saturday.

The video, which purportedly shows Tyagi asking her students to slap the boy in a classroom at Neha Public School, went viral on social media, eliciting strong words from the public and several political leaders. Tyagi reportedly owns the school.

Tripti Tyagi has claimed that the video has been tampered with in order to stoke tensions. She said it was wrong on her part to get a student slapped by classmates, adding, however, that she was forced to do it as she is handicapped and was not able to stand up and reach the student who had not done his homework.

Police reportedly booked Tyagi after receiving a complaint from the boy’s family, but are yet to reveal the sections she has been charged with.

Speaking to News18 earlier on Saturday, Superintendent of Police Satyanarayan Prajapat said the person filming the video has confirmed that the teacher made communal comments as well.

“After investigating the video, it was found that the teacher was declaring that Muslim students whose mothers don’t pay attention to their studies get spoiled. The person recording the video also confirms this,” the SP said.

He added that the police officially informed the Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA) of the incident and have proposed departmental action against the teacher.

Basic Shiksha Adhikari of Muzaffarnagar, Shubham Shukla, was quoted by news agency PTI as saying that a criminal case would be registered against the authorities of the school, where the incident took place.

The district administration, too, has ordered an inquiry into the matter and the Muzaffarnagar Police assured action.

In the video, Tyagi is also purportedly seen directing the students on where to assault the boy. “Abki baar kamar pe maaro… chalo… muh pe na maaro, ab muh laal ho raha hai… kamar pe maaro saare (Hit him on the waist… his face is turning red… hit him on the waist instead).”

The Samajwadi Party and Congress blamed the incident on the “politics of hate of BJP and RSS”. The BJP shot back, accusing them of indulging in “superficial politics”.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a post on X, formerly Twitter, said: “Sowing the poison of discrimination in the minds of innocent children, turning a holy place like school into a marketplace 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 – we all have to teach them love not hatred.”

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, too, in a post demanded that the teacher be sacked immediately.

BJP spokesperson Harishchandra Srivastava termed Yadav’s post a “political agenda”.

“The tweet made by Akhilesh Yadav regarding the Muzaffarnagar school incident is superficial politics and a disgusting political agenda to create disharmony in the society. We all in our student life have been punished by the teacher in school for not remembering tables, not correcting maths questions or not having good writing, and this is a natural process of improving discipline and talent in students,” he said.

Circle Officer Ravi Shankar had on Friday said that prima facie it has emerged that the student was beaten up for not completing the school work and there was nothing objectionable in it.