In a recent development, the Uttar Pradesh Police apprehended a schoolteacher on Thursday for her alleged involvement in inciting communal discord within a classroom setting. The distressing incident transpired at a private school located in the quaint village of Dugawar in Sambhal district.
The teacher in question, identified as Shaista, was taken into custody following a formal complaint lodged by the father of a Hindu student who was subjected to the troubling incident. According to the complainant, the teacher had purportedly instructed a fellow Muslim classmate to physically reprimand his son, who was a fifth-grade student at the institution. The triggering event, it is claimed, unfolded after the student failed to respond correctly to a classroom question—a situation that, according to the aggrieved father, had deeply wounded his son’s religious sensibilities.
Authorities have responded promptly to this distressing incident, and Shaista now faces charges under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code. Additional Superintendent of Police Shrish Chandra confirmed these developments, as reported by The Hindu.
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This disconcerting episode is the second such occurrence to make headlines in Uttar Pradesh recently. Just last month, a widely circulated video on social media revealed a separate instance where a teacher had instructed students to physically assault a seven-year-old Muslim classmate while making derogatory comments about the Muslim community.
As public outcry and criticism from various quarters grew in response to the video and the initial incident, law enforcement authorities took action against the responsible teacher, Tripta Tyagi, on August 26th. It is worth noting that the charges against Tyagi in the first information report were non-cognizable, requiring law enforcement officials to secure a warrant for her arrest and obtain court permission to initiate a formal investigation.
