'Video edited, what I said was...': UP teacher who asked students to slap fellow classmate

Tripta Tyagi, the Muzaffarnagar teacher who asked students to slap their classmate, on Saturday claimed that the video was 'edited' and she made some students slap him so that he would start doing his homework. Tyagi also claimed that there was pressure from the child's parents to be strict with him.

"There was pressure from the parents of the child to be strict with him. I am handicapped I can’t get up…he was not doing homework for the last 2 months…so I made 2-3 students beat him up so that he would start doing his work," she said while speaking to the news agency ANI.

Tyagi teaches at a school in Khabbarpur village of Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh. On Friday, a shocking video surfaced in which the teacher can be seen asking students to slap one of their classmates. "I have declared jitne bhi Mohammedan bachhe hai...," the teacher was caught saying on camera while she called the rest of the class to slap the boy.

However, the teacher has now claimed that the video was edited to give the whole episode a communal angle. "The video that was made viral was edited and cut, I had no such intentions," she said.

Clarifying her Mohammedan comment, the teacher said: "What I said was 'Muhamdan mothers' must not take their kids to their uncles' homes as the exam is approaching. But they cut this video and took the 'Muhamdan' word...I had no such intentions have made a mistake and I seek apology with folded hands."

Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Saturday slammed the BJP for the incident. "Sowing the poison of discrimination in the minds of innocent children, turning a holy place like school into a marketplace of hatred – nothing worse a teacher can do for the country. This is the same kerosene spread by the BJP which has set every corner of India on fire. Children are the future of India - do not hate them, we all have to teach love together," he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Muzaffarnagar District Magistrate Aravind Mallappa Bangari said a case has been registered against the teacher. He said the parents were initially not agreeing to give a complaint but this morning they gave a complaint to the local police station, and it has been registered. "Legal action will be taken in the case," he said.

The father of the child said his son is seven years old and this incident happened on August 24. "The teacher made the students beat my child again and again. My nephew made the video and had gone to school for some work...My seven-year-old child was tortured for an hour or two. He is scared...This is not a Hindu-Muslim matter. We want the law should take its own course," he said.