Muzaffarnagar Student Slapping Case | Supreme Court Asks UP Govt To Bear Educational Expenses Of Victim Boy Till He Completes School

The Supreme Court today (May 14) reaffirmed that the Uttar Pradesh government bears the primary responsibility for the educational expenses of the minor boy who was the victim of the 2023 Muzaffarnagar student slapping incident.

A bench of Justice Abhay S. Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan clarified that the state must cover tuition fees, the cost of uniforms, books, and transport charges until the child completes his school education.

“We make it clear that as indicated in our earlier orders, it is the obligation of the state government to pay for the tuition fees, cost of uniform, books etc. and transport charges of the child till he completes school education”, said the Court.

The Court was hearing a PIL filed by activist Tushar Gandhi concerning the Muzaffarnagar student slapping case and the implementation of the Right to Education Act, 2009.

The PIL arose after an incident in August 2023, where a video showed a school teacher, Tripta Tyagi, instructing other students to slap a seven-year-old Muslim boy and allegedly making derogatory remarks about his religion.

The Court said that while charitable organisations or institutions may offer assistance, the ultimate responsibility rests with the state government.

“It is for the state to take assistance of any charitable trust or charitable institution for the purposes of payment of aforesaid amounts. We again clarify that the primary responsibility of meeting this expenditure is of the state. It will also be open for the state to persuade the school authorities to bear the expenses”, the Court stated.

On November 10, 2023, the state had assured the Court that the child would be admitted to another private school in Muzaffarnagar and that all educational expenses would be covered under an appropriate state scheme.

During the hearing today, Senior Advocate Shadan Farasat, for the petitioner, submitted that the child's tuition fees for the last semester had not yet been paid, uniform money remained outstanding, and transport charges were only paid two days earlier.

Farasat urged the Court to direct that payments be made directly to the school, not through the child or his father. He said that the family, being agriculturists, could not bear the financial burden and were being subjected to repeated embarrassment.

Additional Advocate General Garima Prashad for the state said that a charitable trust had already come forward and provided clothes. The Trust, she said, would pay the fees directly to the school for the current year.

Justice Oka observed, “But this is only for a year. We will clarify that if the Trust doesn't pay then the state will have to pay.”

On December 12, 2024, the Court issued extensive directions underscoring the importance of inculcating constitutional values such as equality, secularism, and fraternity in students. It observed that the objective of providing quality education under the RTE Act could not be fulfilled without efforts to instil these values.

The Court on that date directed that all schools must be informed of grievance redressal mechanisms under Section 17(1) of the RTE Act, which prohibits physical or mental harassment of children.

The Court had pointed out that although the state had claimed to have grievance redressal mechanisms in place, it had not adequately communicated their availability to parents, rendering them ineffective in practice.

The state government in an affidavit filed by Special Secretary Yatindra Kumar, annexed a communication issued by the Additional Chief Secretary to all District Basic Education Officers regarding the grievance mechanism for violations of Section 17(1) of the RTE Act.

Today, the Supreme Court directed the state to forward this communication to all recognised schools in Uttar Pradesh and instruct school authorities to inform parents about it. The Court stated that this would fulfil the earlier direction regarding public awareness of grievance mechanisms.

Case no. – WP (Crl.) No. 406/2023

Case Title – Tushar Gandhi v. State of Uttar Pradesh

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