A court in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar on December 5 granted bail to Tripta Tyagi, the teacher accused of instructing students to beat a Muslim child as punishment in school..Special Judge (POCSO Act) Alka Bharti, while granting bail to Tyagi, took into account the fact that the chargesheet has already been filed in the case by the police and she was not arrested during the investigation.The Court also noted that Tyagi is 61 years old with 40 percent disability and that the offences alleged against her carry a minimum punishment of seven years' imprisonment..Last month, Allahabad High Court had refused to grant anticipatory bail to Tyagi and directed her to surrender before the concerned court within two weeks.Nevertheless, the High Court had directed that no coercive action be taken against her for two weeks or until she surrenders before the lower court..Tyagi was seen goading students to slap a Muslim student. Tyagi is said to have made derogatory remarks about the Muslim student's religion and instigated classmates to beat him.The incident had sparked outrage after the video of the child being slapped went viral on social media. The school where the incident took place was later sealed.Tyagi later released a video denying any communal angle but acknowledging her mistake.She was booked for voluntarily causing hurt and other offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) along with Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act.Her counsel argued before the special judge that the first information report against her was filed to give a communal angle to the matter. It was further contended that she had not committed any act that could incite animosity between communities or harm society..The Supreme Court is also seized a plea was moved by Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, seeking a time-bound and independent probe into the matter as well as measures to address violence against students belonging to religious minority.The top court has been passing directions in that matter from time to time..[Read Order]
