Uttar Pradesh Police registered an FIR against Alt News Cofounder Mohammad Zubair for allegedly disclosing the identity of the minor Muslim student who was subjected to Islamophobic abuse by a teacher in the Muzaffarnagar school on video which went viral on social media.
The FIR dated August 28 names Mohammad Zubair as the accused for revealing the identity of the minor in the case.
Several social media users expressed their outrage over the UP Police’s actions against Zubair. They claimed that Zubair had been singled out because of his journalism, and pointed out that his efforts compelled the UP Police to address the incident at the UP shool.
Zubair in his post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter stated that he deleted the video of the incident as the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights had urged the people to delete the video. “Deleted the video because NCPCR wanted people to delete the video,” said Zubair in a post dated August 25.
NCPCR Chairperson Priyank Kanoongo earlier urged people not to reveal the identity of a boy by sharing a video in which a teacher is seen asking her students to slap him.
In a video widely circulated on social media, a teacher, identified as Tripta Tyagi, can be seen asking the students of Neha Public School in Khubbapur village in Muzaffarnagar to hit the Muslim child. Tyagi also encourages the children to hit the crying student harder while declaring that all Muslims children should be taught a lesson.
The incident led to widespread criticism on social media, with many people calling for the teacher to be arrested. However, the posts were said to have been withheld in the country “in response to a legal demand.”
An FIR was been filed against Tyagi based on the boy’s statement and his father’s complaint, under IPC sections 323 (causing hurt) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace).
