Allahabad HC rejects anticipatory bail plea of teacher who asked Class 2 students to slap Muslim boy

PTI, Dec 5, 2024, 4:43 PM IST

Muzaffarnagar: The Allahabad High Court has rejected the anticipatory bail plea of a school teacher who asked class 2 students to slap their Muslim friend, a lawyer said on Thursday about the incident that sparked widespread outrage last year.

A bench comprising Justice Deepak Verma refused to grant the relief and directed the applicant to surrender before the court concerned within two weeks from the date of the order and apply for regular bail, the plaintiff’s lawyer said.

“The lower court had already rejected the anticipatory bail plea on October 16. Now, the high court has upheld that decision, rejecting the teacher’s plea on November 23,” Kamran Zaidi, the lawyer representing the victim, said.

According to the prosecution, police filed a charge sheet against Tripti Tyagi under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including Section 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), Section 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), and Section 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings).

Additionally, charges under Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act have been invoked, the lawyer said.

The case drew widespread attention and condemnation after a video surfaced in August 2023, showing Tyagi instructing her students of Class 2 to slap a Muslim classmate while making a communal remark in Khubbapur village.

Muzaffarnagar police had registered a case against the teacher over the incident, while the school was also served a notice by the state’s education department.

On November 10, 2023, the Supreme Court had castigated the state government for not complying with its order to depute an agency for counselling the victim child.

On January 12, the apex court said the developments that followed the unsavoury incident were the result of the state not doing what was expected of it after the offence was committed.

A bench of justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan had said the state should have been concerned about the manner in which the incident had happened.