A school teacher in Sambhal district of Uttar Pradesh has been arrested on charges of allegedly fueling communal hatred. The teacher, identified as Shaista, is accused of instructing a Muslim student to slap a Hindu classmate who couldn't answer a question.

This incident, which took place in class 5 of a private school, led to the teacher facing charges under IPC sections 153A (promoting enmity between groups on religious grounds) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt).

The charges were filed following a complaint by the father of the Hindu student, who argued that the incident had hurt his son's religious sentiments. This incident echoes a similar occurrence reported last month in Muzaffarnagar, where charges were pressed against another teacher.

A video of the Muzaffarnagar incident went viral in which a school teacher, identified as Tripta Tyagi, was seen asking students to slap their Muslim classmate.

In the Sambhal case, Nitin Kumar Tyagi's son, a student at St. Anthony School in Siroli village within the Anchoda police station area, was allegedly subjected to physical punishment by his teacher Shaista on Tuesday (27 September).

The accusation states that when the teacher asked Nitin's son a question in class, and he couldn't answer, she instructed a Muslim student in the class to slap him.

Disturbed by the incident, the affected student did not attend school on Wednesday and remained silent. When questioned by his family, he shared details of the incident.

On Wednesday, relatives took the matter to the police station, filing a complaint against the accused teacher Shaista and the student involved. The police registered an FIR on Thursday.