Supreme Court laments failure by State of UP to give counseling to Muslim student slapped by classmates

The Supreme Court on Friday pulled up the Uttar Pradesh government (UP) for its failure to provide counseling to the Muslim student who was recently seen getting slapped by classmates on their teacher's instructions..A bench of Justice AS Oka and Pankaj Mithal lamented that the government "will not do anything" unless the Court passes orders.The Court expressed disappointment with the delay in compliance with its previous order dated September 25 and also questioned whether it would serve any purpose to counsel the student after such a delay. "Unless we pass order they won't do anything. You have to take a stand whether you will do something or want only face-saving. We passed the order on September 25. If students are treated in your State like this, then what is the use of expert counseling now after three months?" the Court remarked..Noting that no counseling had been conducted for any of the children involved in the incident, the Court asked Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai to suggest the mode and manner of counseling."No counseling of any of the children has been done. We can say TISS Mumbai will suggest the mode and manner of counselling and ask the Education Secretary to be present in next hearing virtually," the Court said. .The Supreme Court was hearing a plea filed by Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, seeking action against the school teacher, Tripta Tyagi.Tyagi is said to have referred to a Muslim student's religion and spoken pejoratively about Muslim children while asking his classmates to beat him hard. The video of the incident went viral on social media. The private school school in question in Khubbapur village was later sealed.The teacher, meanwhile, released a video statement asserting that while she may have made a mistake, there was no communal angle to the incident.Amid the public outrage that erupted over the incident, Tushar Gandhi moved the Supreme Court seeking a time-bound and independent probe, as well as remedial actions to tackle violence against school children including those belonging to religious minorities.