The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Uttar Pradesh government to nominate an appropriate senior IPS officer to ensure proper prosecution in the Muzaffarnagar student slapping case.
The bench comprising Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan passed the order after Additional Solicitor General N. Venkataraman informed that the chargesheet in this case had been filed.
Previously, the Court was apprised by the Uttar Pradesh’s home department that the chargesheet against the offender was ready and that only sanction from the concerned authority was awaited.
The court recorded the aforesaid submission and ordered that as chargesheet has been filed, no further directions are required to be issued against the home department. However, it clarified that considering the nature of the FIR, the Home Ministry will nominate an appropriate senior IPS officer to ensure that prosecution is properly conducted by the state.
The matter relates to an incident where a teacher at a school in Muzaffarnagar allegedly asked her students to slap a student and allegedly uttered communal slurs against him. A plea was filed by activist Tushar Gandhi, seeking a proper and time-bound investigation into the incident.
During the earlier hearing, the Supreme Court had also heard an application filed by the father of the victim child. The plea included prayers for reimbursement of the child’s tuition fees, transportation and for providing stationary, school uniform, and similar things. Considering this, the Court had ordered the state to file an affidavit in regard to the compliance of these prayers and posted the matter for today’s hearing.
The state informed the court today that the affidavit has been filed. Ruling on the same, the Court noted that while most of the prayers have been substantially complied with, one last prayer, provided in clause (d), needs to be considered.
Earlier 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 the Right to Education Act (RTE), which bars physical and mental harassment of students and discrimination on the basis of religion and caste. The Court indicated today that it would take up this issue concerning compliance with the RTE on the next hearing date.