Student Slapping Incident: FIR Against Alt News Cofounder Mohammed Zubair For Revealing Minor’s Identity

New Delhi: Alt News Cofounder and Fact Checker Mohammad Zubair is in the dock. Uttar Pradesh Police on Monday registered an FIR against him for disclosing the identity of the minor who was slapped in the Muzaffarnagar school on video that 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 sensitive case.

Notably, Zubair shared the video of the slapping incident on his X account. It showed clear pictures of the victim, a Muslim student, and others who slapped him. He claimed the Muzaffarnagar Police took action only after the video went viral on social media platforms. Zubair also spoke to the child’s father and had then posted saying the father chose not to escalate the matter by lodging a complaint to avoid police court summons.

Meanwhile, the top child rights body in the nation, NCPCR earlier urged people not to reveal the identity of the boy by sharing the video.  National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) Chairperson Priyank Kanoongo said instructions are being issued for action in the matter. “Taking cognisance, instructions are being issued for action, everyone is requested not to share the video of the child, give information about such incidents by e-mail, do not become a part of the crime by revealing the identity of the children,” Kanoongo said in a post on X.

Mohammad Zubair in his post on X, stated that he deleted the video of the incident as urged by NCPCR. “Deleted the video because NCPCR wanted people to delete the video,” said Zubair in a post dated August 25.

The video shows the teacher of a private school in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar asking Class 2 students to slap their classmate from a minority community. She is also heard passing objectionable remarks against the community.

As for the student, who was slapped, he was taken to Meerut on Sunday for a medical checkup after he complained of not able to sleep. The boy’s parents said that he has returned home, and is normal now.

“After complaining of being upset and not able to sleep throughout last night, the boy was brought to Meerut for a checkup. The doctor said that the boy was normal. He became disturbed due to several people including reporters asking him about the Neha Public School incident,” Irshad, father of the Class II student, told PTI.