Current:Home > StocksIndia closes school after video of teacher urging students to slap Muslim classmate goes viral-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
India closes school after video of teacher urging students to slap Muslim classmate goes viral
View Date:2024-12-24 09:30:51
New Delhi — Authorities in central India's Uttar Pradesh state have shut down a private school after video of a teacher asking her students to slap their Muslim classmate went viral and sparked outrage. The state police registered a case against the teacher, identified as Tripta Tyagi, as the video of the August 24 incident spread online.
The scandal erupted at a time of growing tension between India's predominantly Hindu population and its large Muslim minority.
The video, which was verified by police, shows Tyagi telling her students to slap their seven-year-old Muslim classmate. At least three students come up to the Muslim classmate one by one and hit him.
"Why are you hitting him so lightly? Hit him harder," the teacher is heard telling one child as the Muslim boy stands crying.
"Hit him on the back," she tells another student.
Satyanarayan Prajapat, a senior police officer in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district, said the teacher told students to hit the boy "for not remembering his times tables."
But the teacher also mentioned the boy's religion, according to Prajapat.
The teacher from the Neha Public School admitted she'd made a "mistake" by asking other students to hit the boy as she is disabled and couldn't do it herself, but she also defended her actions as necessary discipline.
"This wasn't my intention. I am accepting my mistake, but this was unnecessarily turned into a big issue," Tyagi told India's NDTV news network. "I am not ashamed. I have served the people of this village as a teacher. They all are with me."
The Muslim student's parents took their son out of the school and reported the incident to the police, but they were not pressing charges against the teacher.
"My seven-year-old was tortured for an hour or two. He is scared. This is not a Hindu-Muslim issue. We want the law to take its own course," the boy's father told Indian news networks.
Several politicians accused India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of creating an atmosphere in which the incident was able to take place.
Rahul Gandhi, senior leader of the main opposition party, the Indian National Congress, accused the teacher of "sowing the poison of discrimination in the minds of innocent children."
"This is the same kerosene spread by BJP which has set every corner of India on fire," Gandhi wrote in a social media post.
The BJP, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has consistently said it does not discriminate against the country's more than 200 million Muslims.
In June, during a visit to the U.S., Modi told journalists there was "absolutely no space for discrimination" in India.
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh government officials said the school was being shut as it did not meet the education department's "criteria," with all students set to be transferred to other schools.
- In:
- India
- islam
- Hinduism
veryGood! (8)
Related
- 'I know how to do math': New Red Lobster CEO says endless shrimp deal is not coming back
- UAW president Shawn Fain says 21% pay hike offered by Chrysler parent Stellantis is a no-go
- Two facing murder charges in death of 1-year-old after possible opioid exposure while in daycare in Bronx
- Speaker McCarthy running out of options to stop a shutdown as conservatives balk at new plan
- Former North Carolina labor commissioner becomes hospital group’s CEO
- 2 adults, 2 children found shot to death in suburban Chicago home
- Netanyahu visits Elon Musk in California with plans to talk about artificial intelligence
- Seahawks receiver Tyler Lockett, with game-winning catch, again shows his quiet greatness
- More human remains from Philadelphia’s 1985 MOVE bombing have been found at a museum
- With playmakers on both sides of ball, undefeated 49ers look primed for another playoff run
Ranking
- KFC sues Church's Chicken over 'original recipe' fried chicken branding
- Fire engulfs an 18-story tower block in Sudan’s capital as rival forces battle for the 6th month
- Italy investigates if acrobatic plane struck birds before it crashed, killing a child on the ground
- The UAW held talks with GM and Ford over the weekend but the strike persists
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Red Velvet, Please
- $6 billion in Iranian assets once frozen in South Korea now in Qatar, key for prisoner swap with US
- Two pilots were killed in a midair collision on the last day of Nevada air races
- Hurricane Lee fades, but 'life-threatening' surf persists for thousands of miles: Updates
Recommendation
-
Lions QB Jared Goff, despite 5 interceptions, dared to become cold-blooded
-
Clinton Global Initiative will launch network to provide new humanitarian aid to Ukrainians
-
9 juvenile inmates escape from detention center in Pennsylvania
-
Airstrike on northern Iraq military airport kills 3
-
Eminem, Alanis Morissette, Sheryl Crow, N.W.A. and Janet Jackson get Songwriters Hall of Fame nods
-
Taiwan says 103 Chinese warplanes flew toward the island in a new daily high in recent times
-
Want to retire in 2024? Here are 3 ways to know if you are ready
-
MLB power rankings: Orioles stand strong in showdown series - and playoffs are next