What is discrimination?

Discrimination is the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories

of people, especially on the grounds of ethnicity, age, sex, or disability. Unfortunately, we live in a
world where when we don’t understand something, we tend to look at it from a prejudicial point of
view, leading to discrimination. In our country, we read the news and encounter tales of
discrimination on a daily. One such instance occurred in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar district’s
Khabbarpur village. A private school teacher was caught on camera saying “I have declared
jitne bhi Mohammedan bacche hai…” and making her students beat a seven-year-old
Muslim student. The teacher, identified as Tripta Tyagi, further instigates the students by
saying things like “hit harder” and also asks one of the students to hit him on the waist. The
teacher tried defending herself in front of public authorities by denying that the exercise had
any kind of communal angle and that the student had simply not done his homework and
since she was handicapped, she had to use the students to punish the particular student.
This excuse did not sit well with many as it still violates a child’s right under Section 17 (child
being subjected to physical punishment/mental harassment) of The Right of Children to Free
and Compulsory Education Act,2009. Pressure is also mounting on the family not to pursue a
case against the teacher, with the head of a nearby village as well as farm leader Naresh Tikait
pushing them to reach a “compromise.” The police did file an FIR 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). Tikait told the father to “do compromise” and get the FIR expunged. The
National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) meanwhile directed the Senior
Superintendent of Police (SSP), Muzaffarnagar to initiate an inquiry and lodge an FIR against the
teacher. The SSP has also been instructed to submit an action taken report within a week. This
incident has caused massive outrage on social media and opposition parties have placed blame on
the BJP party for their stoic silence on the subject. They have called for the video to be played at the
upcoming G-20 summit so that they are answerable for the accusations being meted out against
them for creating an “inhospitable” and “tyrannical” environment for Muslims in our country.