Doha, Qatar: A teacher at a private school in India's northern state Uttar Pradesh was seen instructing children in her class to slap their classmate, a seven-year-old Muslim boy in an viral undated video is creating furor among netizens.
The viral video, which came up on the social media on Friday, shows children taking turns slapping the boy while the teacher Tripta Tyagi looks on and encourages them to slap harder. A male voice in the background can be heard agreeing with the teacher while the child cries.
She is heard saying in the video "jor se maaro naa... [Hindi which translates to why dont you hit him harder]. She is also heard saying, "maine toh declare kar diya, jitne bhi Mohammedan (Muslim) bachhe hai… [Hindi roughly translates to I am declaring, all muslim kids...]” with the latter part not clear. This leads to speculation that the kid was targeted due to his faith.
The parents of the seven-year-old, Mohammad Altamash, told Al Jazeera that the incident took place on Thursday, August 24, 2023, in Neha Public School in Kubbapur village, 30km (19 miles) from Muzaffarnagar town.
“... my son came home crying,” Rubina, his mother, said. “He was traumatised. This is not how you treat kids.”
معلمان هنديان يأمران طفلا هنديا مسلما عمره 7 سنوات بالوقوف أمام زملائه وتلقي الصفعات والإهانات ويطلبان طرده بسبب دينه pic.twitter.com/9xOycar0UM
— قناة الجزيرة (@AJArabic) August 25, 2023
Al Jazeera quoted his father Mohammad Irshad, saying the teacher “asked them [classmates] to slap my son one by one”.
“The teacher justified her actions by saying my son did not memorise his lessons."
Irshad said that he will move his son to a different school.
"You can land on all the moons in the solar system & it doesn't mean anything if teachers are training lynch mobs in schools," commented a social media user as she shared the heartbreaking video on X (formerly known as Twitter).
Superintendent of Police Satyanarayan Prajapat in a video statement on social media stated that they are investigating the video adding that the officials spoke with the school principal as well. According to the police, the FIR was registered under Sections 323 and 504 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
He added, "It has been learnt that the woman teacher said that mothers of Muslim students who don't pay attention to their children's studies, end up ruining them."
The top cop said the education department has been informed about the incident and appropriate action will be taken against the teacher.
