The Supreme Court took strong exception to the UP police for not invoking relevant provisions of law in connection with the Muzaffarnagar incident in which a schoolboy was allegedly slapped by his classmates on the instruction of a teacher for belonging to a particular religion and said it should have shaken the “conscience” of the state.
Asserting that the state government had "prima facie" failed to enforce the law, a bench of Justices Abhay Soka and Pankaj Mithal stated that excellent education cannot be offered in educational institutions if pupils are singled out for being members of a group.
The court ordered the UP government to hire a senior IPS officer to investigate the case and submit a status report to the court within a week after expressing concern over the poor investigation. The bench questioned the state police's handling of the matter and noted that the FIR was not only submitted after much delay, but it also omitted any reference of the youngster being allegedly beaten due to his faith.
The court rebuffed the contention of additional solicitor general KM Nataraj who submitted on behalf of the state government that the communal angle was blown out of proportion in the case. “This is a very serious issue. Teacher telling students to hit a classmate because he belongs to a particular community! Is this quality education? State must take responsibility for the education of the child. If the allegations are true, this should shake the conscience of the state,” the bench said.