UP Student Slapping Row: Fact-Checker Zubair Faces FIR For Disclosing The Minor's Identity (Image:https://twitter.com/Adilahmed809/status/)
The Alt News co-founder and journalist Muhammed Zubair on Monday booked for disclosing the identity of the UP Muslim boy who was assaulted in the classroom recently.
In a recent viral video, a seven-year old Muslim child was seen repeatedly beaten by his classmates on instructions of the school principal Tripta Tyagi. The tragic incident was happened at Neha Public School in Uttar Pradesh”s Muzaffarnagar.
A complaint was filed by Vishnu Dutt alleging that Mr Zubair disclosed the identity of the boy by sharing the video of the incident on social media.
Following the complaint, Muzaffarnagar police charged Mr Zubair under section 74 (Prohibition on disclosure of identity of children) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.
Mohammad Zubair is the co-founder of fact-checking website Alt News. He founded the portal along with former software engineer Pratik Sinha in 2017 to combat fake news.
A large amount of support has been pouring in for Mr Zubair, and X (formerly Twitter) now trends with #IStandWithZubair after the police filed FIR against him.
“When the voices that rise against hatred are silenced by the shackles of a fascist regime, it is not just their freedom that is lost, but the very essence of justice and humanity that becomes imprisoned”, wrote a user on X.
“Mohammed Zubair is one of the most important journalists and documentarian of these dark times. They don”t want their hate to be documented, that”s why they target Zubair everytime. Everybody who believes in democracy, must stand with him”, wrote another.
Mohammed Zubair is one of the most important journalists and documentarian of these dark times. They don”t want their hate to be documented, that”s why they target Zubair everytime. Everybody who believes in democracy, must stand with him.
— Kaushik Raj (@kaushikrj6) August 28, 2023
On Friday, a video of Tripta Tyagi insisting her students to slap the Class 2 Muslim student went viral. The boy being slapped for allegedly not doing his homework led widespread condemnation.
In the video, the teacher refers to the child’s Muslim faith, and talks disparagingly about “Mohammedan children”. She was seen asking the students to beat up the child and mentioning his Muslim identity, even though his friends resists.
In an interview with ANI, Ms Tyagi later come up with an explanation that, “The boy was hit for an hour because he did not study multiplication tables”. According to her, the video was tampered in purpose to fuel tensions.
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The teacher also claimed that she was forced to get the student slapped by his classmates as she is handicapped and was not able to stand up and reach the student.
On Saturday, the Police booked Tyagi at the complaint of the boy’s family for instigating communal hatred by urging Hindu students to hit a Muslim child for not doing his homework. She was charged under sections 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the IPC.
According to India Today, the student has said that he was hit for an hour because he did not study his multiplication tables.
“Poison of discrimination in the minds of innocent children!”, Congress leader and Member of Parliament Rahul Gandhi reacted to the incident on Friday. “Nothing worse a teacher can do for the country”,he added then.
