The National Human Rights Commission has issued notice to the Karnataka government on the issue of  huge number of out-of-school children in the state saying that it could amount to violating their education rights.

Taking suo motu cognisance of a news report published in Deccan Herald on July 14 on out-of-school children in the state,  the NHRC had asked the state chief secretary to send his response within two weeks.

According to the news report, the latest census conducted by the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan stated that at least 80,863 children were out of school in Karnataka and out of this at least 60,516 (age group 7-14) were drop outs while 20,347 had never been to school.

The census further highlighted that the cosmopolitan city of Bangalore had the second highest number of children of school-going-age, who do not go to school while Gulbarga topped the list of such children.

After going through the detailed census report which appeared in the newspaper, the Commission said it could raise a serious issue of violation of human rights relating to “Right to Education” of the children.

It has also sent notice to Superintendent of Police, Gurgaon, Haryana, on a report which said that a nine-year-old boy was thrashed by Gurgaon firemen.

The news report said that Gurgaon fire service personnel had mercilessly beaten up mentally challenged Kalu for no fault of his.

The father of the victim had lodged an FIR against the fire service personnel. The senior official who was investigating the case had however, said that he would wait for the medical report of the victim before taking any step.

The National Human Rights Commission has given two weeks time for the SP to respond.