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.
‘Fix responsibility of edu institutes’
By: Sandip Kolhatkar ON SEXUAL ABUSE IN SCHOOLS City lawyer files PIL in Supreme Court, urging strict guidelines for management against sexual offenders on school premises Advocate Vineet Dhanda.
ON SEXUAL ABUSE IN SCHOOLS
City lawyer files PIL in Supreme Court, urging strict guidelines for management against sexual offenders on school premises
Advocate Vineet Dhanda, a lawyer in the Supreme Court, has filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) asking the SC to direct the Government of India to frame strict guidelines for schools and educational institutes to ensure the safety of students from sexual, mental and physical abuse.
Dhanda, who is a former additional standing counsel for government of Arunachal Pradesh in the Supreme Court, urged the responsibility and liabilities of the schools to be fixed.
Dhanda said the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 is already in place, but it does not set any guidelines for educational institutes regarding any sexual offences taking place on their premises.
“The said Act is vague and incomplete regarding fixing liabilities of school administration, boarding houses and other educational institutes. The Act also does not protect rights of school children regarding sexual abuses,” stated Dhanda. His PIL has been accepted by the court.
According to him, the schools mint money from parents, but do not ensure any safety procedures to safeguard students from their own staff members.
While giving examples, he urged the apex court that the sexual harassment of school children is a serious violation of their fundamental rights. “This is the infringement of Article 21 of the Constitution of India. The government is a welfare state and is expected to ensure the safety of students from sexual abuse in educational institutions by staff members. However, the government is not doing anything to curb such heinous offences, which are reported daily throughout the country,” he stated in the PIL.
According to him, the government has not done anything substantial to check the continuous menace of sexual and mental abuse of children.
