A teacher was seen on camera telling schoolchildren to slap a Muslim boy at a school in Uttar Pradesh state, sparking massive outrage over her action and the degrading treatment of minorities.
The video showed Trapta Tyagi, the teacher at the school in Muzzaffarnagar, making Islamophobic remarks and encouraging other students to slap him harder due to his religion.
A male voice in the background was heard agreeing with the teacher. “I have declared that all Muslim children should go,” she is heard saying as the student stands in front of the class in tears and terrified.
The boy’s father Mohammad Irshad, a farmer, told reporters the teacher asked the classmates to slap his son “one by one”.
“The teacher justified her actions by saying my son did not memorize his lessons. My son is good at his studies. He takes tuitions. We fail to understand why the teacher treated him like this. It seems that the teacher is filled with hate,” he added.
Irshad said that the ill-treatment of his son was the result of “hate that is being spread against Muslims in the country”, as evidenced by the teacher’s comments in the video.
The boy’s mother Rubina added that the teacher reportedly has a habit of getting students slapped by their classmates.
“My son came home crying,” Rubina, his mother, said. “He was traumatised. This is not how you treat kids.”
She added that just a few days ago, another student from their family was subjected to similar treatment after he failed to memorise his lessons.
The boy’s father said he would not press charges against the school as they have come to a compromise. However, he said that will not send his child to this school anymore.
Commenting on the incident, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said, “Sowing the poison of discrimination in the minds of innocent children, turning a holy place like school into a marketplace of hatred – nothing worse a teacher can do for the country.”
“This is the same kerosene spread by the BJP which has set every corner of India on fire. Children are the future of India – do not hate them, we all have to teach love together,” he added.
