Supreme Court issues notice on plea over safety of schoolkids

The Supreme Court on Friday sought the response of the Centre and all state governments to a petition seeking framing of 'non- negotiable' child safety conditions and implementation of guidelines to protect school children from sexual abuse and murder.

Taking up the petition filed by two women lawyers — Abha R Sharma and Sangeeta Bharti — a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud issued notices and sought responses within three weeks. The court directed that the petition be tagged with the petition filed by the father of seven-year-old Pradyuman, who was killed allegedly by a bus conductor at Gurugram's Ryan International School.

In their PIL, the two lawyers have raised the issue of children "being exploited and subjected to child abuse repeatedly within the boundaries of schools", and demanded that Central and state governments notify a set of 'non-negotiable' child safety conditions for schools.

They have also sought implementation of existing guidelines of authorities including the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) on prevention of child abuse in schools, including having a "child protection policy which should be understood, explained and signed by all employees or recruits".

The guidelines also make it mandatory for each school to have a child abuse monitoring committee with two students as representatives, and the requirement of a through police verification before employing a person in a school.