The police have registered a case against the accused teacher and the principal under Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 342 (wrongful confinement), 504 (intentional insult), 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code, and Section 75 (cruelty to child) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act.

The report mentioned that Urdu teacher Farooq Ahmed started beating the student mercilessly after finding ‘Jai Shri Ram’ written on the blackboard. Farooq Ahmed then took the student to the principal Mohammad Hafiz who also allegedly beat him up.

Three-member panel to probe 

Kathua Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Minhas has formed a three-member panel to inquire into the incident, according to India Today. The panel includes the SDM of Bani, the Deputy Chief Education Officer of Kathua, and the principal of the government higher secondary school in Kharote, the report said.

The incident came to light a day after a teacher of a school in Muzzafarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh was booked for making her students beat a fellow Muslim student. The video is doing rounds on social media with netizens demanding strong action against the accused teacher.

The accused teacher also gave her clarification and termed the video video having been tampered with. “The video that was made viral was edited and cut, I had no such intentions…in our place, Hindus and Muslims stay with unity and we have more Muslim students in our school…there was pressure from the parents of the child to be strict with him. I am handicapped I can’t get up…he was not doing homework for last 2 months…so I made 2-3 students beat him up so that he would start doing his work…”, said Tripta Tyagi to news agency ANI.

Updated: 26 Aug 2023, 10:17 PM IST