Muzaffarnagar Student Slapping Case: Supreme Court Asks UP Govt To Nominate Senior IPS Officer To Ensure Proper Prosecution

The Supreme Court (today on May 10), while hearing Muzaffarnagar student slapping case, directed the State of Uttar Pradesh to nominate an appropriate senior IPS officer for conducting the prosecution properly.

The Bench of Justices Abhay S. Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan passed this order after Additional Solicitor General N. Venkataraman informed that the chargesheet in this case had been filed.

Previously, the Court was apprised by the State's home department that the chargesheet against the offender was ready and that only sanction from the concerned authority was awaited. Recording the aforesaid submission, the Court today ordered:

“As chargesheet has been filed, no further directions are required to be issued against the home department. We, however, make it clear that considering the nature of the FIR, the Home Department will nominate an appropriate senior IPS officer to ensure that prosecution is properly conducted by the State.”

The present case revolves around an incident where a teacher at a school in Muzaffarnagar allegedly asked her students to slap a student and allegedly uttered communal slurs against him. Following the incident, a public interest litigation (PIL) was filed by activist Tushar Gandhi, seeking a proper and time-bound investigation into the incident. A detailed background can be seen here. 

During the previous hearing, the Court had also heard an application filed by the father of the victim child. Seemingly, the application included prayers for reimbursement of the child's tuition fees, transportation and for providing stationary, school uniform, and similar things. Regarding this, the Court had ordered the State to file an affidavit in regard to the compliance of these prayers and posted the matter for today's hearing.

Today, upon being asked, the State informed that the affidavit has been filed. Upon perusing the same, the Court noted that while most of the prayers have been substantially complied with, one last prayer, provided in clause (d), needs to be considered. To that effect, the Court passed the following order:

“Ld. ASG states that the chargesheet has been filed after the sanction was received. There is no dispute that as far as prayer a to c…there is substantial compliance made by the State. What remains to be considered is prayer clause d. Ld. AAG, appearing for the State of UP, states that the officers of the State are in the process of finding out appropriate NGO that will be able to help the cause of child.”

At this stage, Advocate General Garima Prashad stated that a request has been made to Sharden Public School to adopt the child. Thus, the Court marked:

“We are sure that if a request is made by the State to Sharden public school to adopt the child, the school authority will consider sympathetically considering the facts of the case, for considering prayer clause d and larger issue raised by in order dated September..., 2023. List on 26th July.”

In its September order, the Court had observed that there was "prima facie failure on the part of the State" to comply with the mandate of the Right to Education Act (RTE), which prohibits physical and mental harassment of students and discrimination on the basis of religion and caste.

During today's hearing, the Court indicated that it would take up this issue concerning compliance with the RTE on the next hearing date. 

Case Details: Tushar Gandhi v. State of Uttar Pradesh, Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 406 of 2023