India begins probe after Hindu teacher encourages slapping Muslim student

A school in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, where a schoolteacher reportedly encouraged students to slap a Muslim student, has been ordered shut until an investigation against the school authorities is completed.

The schoolteacher has been booked and an investigation into the case is underway, Education Officer Shubham Shukla said in a statement on Monday, adding the recognition of the school would be withdrawn.

There was widespread outrage after the video of the incident in the village of Khubbapur in Muzaffarnagar went viral on Friday.

The video shows the 7-year-old Muslim student standing in front of the class as a number of his classmates come up to slap him, making him cry.

The teacher, who is Hindu, is heard saying: “What are you doing? Why are you not beating him harder?”

Meanwhile, police in Uttar Pradesh on Monday booked Alt News Cofounder and Fact Checker Mohammad Zubair for disclosing the identity of the minor Muslim boy who was slapped.

Viral video spurs action

Zubair shared the video of the incident on his X (formerly known as Twitter) account.

According to Zubair, the police took action only after the video went viral on social media platforms.

India’s top child rights body, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), asked people not to reveal the boy's identity by sharing the video.

Zubair later deleted the video.

Last year, Zubair was arrested by Delhi police for allegedly hurting religious sentiments and promoting enmity. He has been under constant attack from the Hindutva groups for busting fake news and calling out hate speech by Hindu monks.

Zubair was the first to notice the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) leader Nupur Sharma’s controversial remarks against Prophet Mohammad.

The issue snowballed into a major controversy with many Muslim countries expressing their displeasure over the disparaging remarks against the prophet.