Teacher who told students to slap Muslim classmate may be charged under Section 295A IPC: UP to Supreme Court

The Uttar Pradesh government told the Supreme Court on Monday that the school teacher who allegedly goaded students to slap a Muslim classmate may face charges under Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) [Tushar Gandhi vs State of Uttar Pradesh and ors]..Section 295A of the IPC states that any deliberate and malicious act intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs, is a punishable offence.Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj appeared for the Uttar Pradesh Police and the State's Home Department in the matter today.He informed that Section 295A of the IPC is being invoked against the teacher.The Court was told that this provision would be charged instead of Section 153A of the IPC (which deals with promoting enmity between different groups).He added that sanction for proceeding with the case under Section 295A of the IPC was awaited from the State government.A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Pankaj Mithal ordered the State to immediately take a decision on this aspect."We direct the government to immediately take a decision on grant of sanction," the order said. .The Court also stated that it is considering roping in professionals from institutes like the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) or the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences (NIMHANS) to counsel of the victim student and his classmates.."We are putting to notice of State that we are considering appointing a professional agency for the purpose of counselling the victim and other students. List on next Monday," 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. .During earlier hearings, the Court had taken exception to the manner in which the Uttar Pradesh Police and government were handling the probe into the case, The Court had observed that the first information report (FIR) omitted key allegations and had, therefore, directed that the probe should be headed by a senior Indian Police Services (IPS) officer nominated by the State government.The Court had also asked that the officer to examine whether the offence of hate speech under Section 153A of IPC was made out.It had further directed the State government to ensure that proper counselling is extended to the victim-child as well as the classmates by a professional counsellor..In today's order, the Court directed the concerned State departments to file compliance reports on these directions, which were yet to be submitted..Advocate Shadan Farasat appeared for the petitioner.