Uttar Pradesh Police have filed a FIR against fact-checker and co-founder of Alt News, Mohd Zubair. Zubair has been booked under the Juvenile Justice Act for a video of the incident he had posted on social media.
The video, which surfaced online last Friday of an incident wherein a seven-year old Muslim student was repeatedly slapped by his classmates, while their teacher, Tripta Tyagi, made inflammatory and Islamophobic remarks. The teacher purportedly not only incited the other students to intensify the assault but also made derogatory remarks that could be interpreted as promoting hatred against Muslims.
The incident has drawn outrage from various folds of society, including activists, journalists, and citizens alike.
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) had promptly responded to the video, issuing a warning against the disclosure of the identities of the children involved, particularly by sharing the footage of the video.
Tripti Tyagi, after the video of the incident went viral, has told a news channel that she is not ashamed. The police have registered a complaint of the boy’s family against Tyagi under IPC sections 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) — both non-cognisable offences. Such offences are bailable and do not lead to immediate arrest, and require a warrant.