Will BJP leaders send their kids to such schools: Jayant Chaudhary on Muzaffarnagar slap row

New Delhi: RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary on Monday accused BJP leaders of trying to project that there was no communal angle in the Uttar Pradesh school teacher ordering her students to slap a Muslim classmate and asked whether they would send their children to such a school.

Hitting out at the BJP governments at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) leader said sometimes when an all-pervasive environment that enables such voices and encourages them, and people involved in illegal acts get away with impunity, things get out of control.

"I fear that India is on the cusp right now. We need to protect our constitutional liberties and our rights. We need to protect our freedoms, we need to protect the downtrodden, the poorer sections of society, people who have always been discriminated against and the minorities.

"Let us be open about it. Talking about their benefits and their rights does not mean that we are anti-democratic, it only strengthens our democracy," Chaudhary told PTI.

The teacher, Tripta Tyagi, was booked a day after a video surfaced on social media in which she was seen asking students to slap the Class 2 boy at Neha Public School in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar and also making a communal remark.

Chaudhary said as a parent he was shocked to see that video and no one wants to send children to such schools.

"When I saw that clip, I saw a bad teacher. It is unfortunate that BJP leaders are talking about justice for the teacher. They are seeing a Tyagi. I am not seeing a Tyagi, I am not seeing a 'samaj' there. I am not targeting a community there, I am just asking questions -- is this how we want to deal with our future generations?" he said.

"Do we want to strip them of their innocence at six, seven or eight years of age? Should young people, when they go to school, face such an atmosphere?" the Rajya Sabha MP said.

The RLD leader said the incident goes against the Constitution as Article 39F lays down that it is incumbent upon the state to provide a safe environment where dignity is ensured for the children.

Section 17 of the Right to Education Act says that children must be protected from any kind of physical harm, abuse or mental torture, he pointed out.

"In that video, the teacher asks other children to slap the child and refers to that child as Mohommaden. So a religious marker is being used and a child is being weaponised and incited to hurt another child. It is very shocking," Chaudhary said.

He alleged that the police administration was "very slow" in reacting even though an FIR was filed later.

"I don't think that right charges have been filed. Yes, the school has been sealed because it was operating without any permission. But action should be taken against those erring officials who allowed this to continue," Chaudhary said.

"And I ask the BJP leaders who are trying to project this as not being a communal issue and trying to attack people who are raising their voices, I ask them, will you send your children to such schools?" he said.

His remarks came after Muzaffarnagar MP Sanjeev Balyan, who met Tyagi, reportedly said the Opposition was trying to communalise an unfortunate incident between a teacher and a student.

"It is a minor issue that has been resolved. Corporal punishment is common in this area. A divyang (person with disability) teacher who is doing social service should not be dragged into it," he said.

The school in Khabbupur village of Muzaffarnagar remained closed for the third day on Monday. The school management said they were not opening the institute as they were busy replying to the show cause notice served to it by the education department over the school's affiliation.

A case was registered against Tyagi on Saturday under sections 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the Indian Penal Code on the complaint of the victim's family.

Tyagi, in her defence, had said the clip had been tampered with to give a communal colour to the matter and claimed that the video was shot by the student's uncle.

She had, however, admitted that getting the student slapped by his classmates was wrong, but said it was because she was physically challenged and was not able to stand up and reach the student.