Tripta Tyagi denied that her action was communal in nature

New Delhi/:

The Uttar Pradesh teacher who was seen asking students to slap their Muslim classmate in a video, has claimed that the viral clip was distorted.

Denying that her action was communal in nature, Tripta Tyagi said she asked some students to slap him because the boy had not been doing his homework.

“There was pressure from the parents of the child to be strict with him. I am handicapped, so I made some students slap him up so that he would start doing his homework,” she said.

She said the video was edited to give the whole episode a communal angle. “The child’s uncle was sitting in the class. The video was recorded by him which was later distorted,” she said, referring to communal words she was heard saying in the video.

Ms Tyagi also said that it was a “small matter” that has been exaggerated after the video went viral.

“This wasn’t my intention. They all are like my kids and I am accepting my mistake, but this was unnecessarily turned into a big issue”, she said.

“I want to tell politicians that this was a small matter. Leaders, including Rahul Gandhi have tweeted, but it was not such a big thing to tweet about. How will teachers teach if daily issues like these are made viral,” she said.

Aravind Mallappa Bangari, District Magistrate, Muzaffarnagar said that a case has been registered against the teacher

“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,” Mr Bangari said.

The video has triggered a massive row with politicians across the party lines condemning it as a hate crime.

“Sowing the poison of discrimination in the minds of innocent children, turning a holy place like a school into a market place of hatred – there is nothing worse a teacher can do for the country,” Rahul Gandhi said on microblogging site X.

“Where there is talk of technology to go to the moon or things that build a boundary wall of hatred. The choice is clear. Hate is the biggest enemy of progress,” Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said.

BSP MP Danish Ali also condemned the incident.