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PIL wants schools held responsible for abuse on campus

Last Updated 05 December 2014, 18:53 IST

The growing menace of child sexual abuse in schools reached the Supreme Court which on Friday decided to examine a PIL which urged for fixing the liability on educational institutions for such incidents in their premises.

A bench of Chief Justice H L Dattu and A K Sikri admitted the petition filed by advocate Vineet Dhanda for consideration saying that it has raised a “good cause”.

The court issued notice to the Centre and states on the petition which sought direction for laying down strict guidelines for educational institutions to ensure safety of students and their protection from any sort of physical and mental abuse.
The petitioner cited the “gory crime of child sexual abuses” reported from schools across the country, including Bengaluru, Kolkata and Delhi, in which children as young as three years were sexually exploited by the school staff and others.

Recent incidents in Vibgyor High and Orchid International School in Bengaluru led to public outrage.

“The more disturbing part besides the gory crime of child sexual abuse is that the educational institutions have no liabilities whatsoever fixed by law in case of such offences in their premises and even the police goes out of the way to protect such educational institutions for their own vested interests,” the petition stated.

The government has not formulated any guidelines or special laws to fix the liability on the school management if such incidents occur on their premises or their transport services, it pointed out.

“If this issue is not immediately resolved and checked, child sexual abuse in educational institutions will spread like a wild fire and eat away the precious lives of small children who are innocent and unaware of their rights,” the petitioner, a father of two school-going children, contended.

The petitioner alleged that school managements throughout the country, besides making money, did not ensure any safety procedures to protect and safeguard the children from their own staff members.

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(Published 05 December 2014, 18:53 IST)

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