The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Tuesday took suo motu cognisance of media reports on the teacher of a primary school in Uttar Pradesh who asked some of her students to beat up their Muslim classmate for allegedly not doing his homework.

The incident, which took place at a school in Muzaffarnagar district on August 25, had triggered widespread criticism and calls for action after a video of headmistress Tripta Tyagi instructing the students to hit the sobbing boy harder went viral.

The commission has observed that the contents of the media report, if true, amount to a violation of the child’s human rights. It has issued notices to the Uttar Pradesh chief secretary and director-general of police, seeking a detailed report within four weeks.

The report should include the action taken against the teacher, the status of the FIR registered in the matter and compensation, if any, paid to the aggrieved family, as well as steps taken/proposed to be taken to ensure that such shameful incidents do not recur in the future, the NHRC said.

Quoting news reports, the commission said Tyagi, who also owns the school, has not been arrested yet.

The NHRC statement mentioned that the school did not meet the criteria of the education department.