Tripta Tyagi denied that her action was communal in nature

New Delhi/:

Amid a massive row, the Uttar Pradesh teacher who was seen asking students to slap their Muslim classmate in a viral video, today justified her action and said that it was a “minor issue”.

Denying that her action was communal in nature, Tripta Tyagi said she asked some students to slap him because the boy had not been doing his homework. “There was pressure from the child’s parents to be strict with him. I am handicapped, so I made some students slap him so that he would start doing his homework,” she said.

She alleged the video was edited to give the whole episode a communal angle. “The child’s cousin was sitting in the class. The video was recorded by him which was later distorted,” she said, referring to offensive words she was heard using against a community in the video.

Ms Tyagi said it was a “minor issue” that has been exaggerated after the video clip went viral. “This wasn’t my intention. I am accepting my mistake, but this was unnecessarily turned into a big issue”, she said.

“I want to tell politicians that this was a minor issue. Leaders, including Rahul Gandhi have tweeted, but it was not such a big thing to tweet about. How will teachers teach if daily issues like these are made viral,” she said.

Aravind Mallappa Bangari, District Magistrate, Muzaffarnagar said that a case has been registered against the teacher. 

“The parents were initially not agreeing to give a complaint but this morning they gave a complaint to the local police station, and it has been registered. Legal action will be taken in the case,” Mr Bangari said.

Mr Bangari said the child and his parents were counselled by the child welfare committee. “My son is 7-years-old. This incident happened on August 24. The teacher made the students beat my child again and again. My son was tortured for an hour or two. He is scared,” the child’s father said today.

The boy’s father had yesterday said that he will not press charges against the school, but has decided not to send his child to this school anymore.

The video has triggered a massive outrage on social media. Politicians across the party lines also condemned the incident as a hate crime.

“Sowing the poison of discrimination in the minds of innocent children, turning a holy place like a school into a market place of hatred – there is nothing worse a teacher can do for the country,” Rahul Gandhi said on microblogging site X. 

मासूम बच्चों के मन में भेदभाव का ज़हर घोलना, स्कूल जैसे पवित्र स्थान को नफ़रत का बाज़ार बनाना – एक शिक्षक देश के लिए इससे बुरा कुछ नहीं कर सकता।

ये भाजपा का फैलाया वही केरोसिन है जिसने भारत के कोने-कोने में आग लगा रखी है।

बच्चे भारत का भविष्य हैं – उनको नफ़रत नहीं, हम सबको मिल…

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 25, 2023

Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav too demanded the teacher be sacked immediately, and called her a “blot on society”.

“The feeling of hatred towards a child in the temple of knowledge has made the whole country hang its head in shame,” said BJP MP Varun Gandhi.

ज्ञान के मंदिर में एक बच्चे के प्रति घृणा भाव ने पूरे देश का सिर शर्म से झुका दिया।

शिक्षक वो माली है जो प्राथमिक संस्कारों में ज्ञान रूपी खाद डालकर व्यक्तित्व ही नहीं, राष्ट्र गढ़ता है।

इसलिए दूषित राजनीति से परे एक शिक्षक से उम्मीदें कहीं अधिक हैं।

देश के भविष्य का सवाल है!… pic.twitter.com/WbKbKql8lW

— Varun Gandhi (@varungandhi80) August 26, 2023

The viral video goes on to show children taking turns to slap the Muslim student, who was seen in tears. The child rights body had yesterday said that it has also ordered for action to be taken against the teacher.