'I'm handicapped, so...': UP teacher justifies 'slapping' Muslim student after video goes viral

A private school teacher in Uttar Pradesh, who was accused of instructing students to slap their Muslim classmate, justified her action and said that she did so as she was handicapped. She said it was a "minor issue" even as a case was registered against her. 

A teacher, who allegedly instructed children in a classroom to slap their Muslim classmate in a school in Uttar Pradesh, said that she was trying to discipline the child and that his family was the one who asked her to do so. She also claimed that she encouraged the other students to slap the student because she was "handicapped." When questioned about the incident, she replied, "Bacche ko tight karne ke liye tha, (did this to tighten the student)."

"The student hadn't memorised a lesson and it had been months," Tripta Tyagi said in a statement to the media. She further said, "I  had to discipline him. I am handicapped, so I made some students slap him so that he would start doing his homework. His uncle was the one who asked me to do so."

Responding to the allegations of religious discrimination, she said, "We don't do Hindu-Muslim at the school. People from many religions coexist together in our community. I don't have any animosity towards the kid.

According to Tyagi, the "minor issue" had been exaggerated after the viral video clip. "I didn't mean to do this. I accept my mistake, but this was needlessly escalated into a major problem," she stated. 

A case was registered against the private school teacher in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar on Saturday after an undated video of the private school teacher in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, asked classmates to slap a Muslim child inside the classroom, went viral.

The viral video goes on to show children taking turns to slap the Muslim student, who was seen in tears. The child rights body said that it has also ordered for action to be taken against the teacher. The video has triggered a massive outrage on social media. Politicians across the party lines also condemned the incident as a hate crime.