UP Court Grants Bail to Teacher Who Encouraged Students to Slap Muslim Classmate

(Judicial Quest News Network)

On December 5, the Muzaffarnagar District Court in Uttar Pradesh granted bail to Tripta Tyagi, a teacher accused of instructing students to physically punish a Muslim child in school. The decision followed a series of legal proceedings, with the special judge, Alka Bharati, taking into account several key factors.

Earlier, the Allahabad High Court had denied anticipatory bail to Tyagi, instructing her to surrender before the appropriate court within two weeks. However, the High Court had also ensured that no coercive action would be taken against Tyagi during this two-week period.

In granting bail, the Muzaffarnagar court considered the fact that the police had already filed a charge sheet in the case and that Tyagi had not been arrested during the investigation. The court also acknowledged her age (61 years) and her 40% disability, alongside the fact that the offences she is accused of carry a minimum sentence of seven years in prison.

The charges stem from an incident in which Tyagi allegedly made derogatory remarks about a Muslim student’s religion and instigated other students to physically assault the child as punishment. The incident sparked widespread outrage after a video of the assault went viral on social media. As a result, the school where the incident occurred was subsequently sealed.

In response to the allegations, Tyagi released a video in which she denied any communal intent but admitted to making a mistake in her actions. She faces charges under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for voluntarily causing hurt, as well as Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act.

Tyagi’s legal counsel argued before the special judge that the FIR filed against her sought to attribute a communal angle to the incident. They contended that her actions had not incited communal violence or harmed societal harmony. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has also been involved in the matter, as a petition filed by Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, called for an independent investigation and measures to prevent violence against students from religious minorities. The Supreme Court has been issuing directions in the case on a regular basis.