Sept. 15: The Haryana government today announced a CBI probe into the murder of seven-year-old Pradhyuman Thakur at the Ryan International School in Gurgaon and said it would take over the school's management for three months to address the safety shortcomings.
Amid mounting public pressure, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar visited the family of Pradhyuman, whose father had petitioned the Supreme Court for a CBI probe and the issuance of safety directives to the government and the school board.
Pradhyuman had his throat slit in the school bathroom last week, allegedly by a school bus conductor who had tried to sexually assault him.
"This incident is highly condemnable. Haryana police have conducted the investigation well so far but keeping in view the public demand, we have decided to hand the investigation over to the CBI. I shall appeal to the CBI to complete the investigation soon," Khattar told reporters.
"We have also decided that the government will take over the school management for three months. The deputy commissioner (of Gurgaon) will address the shortcomings in the school."
Asked why the managing director of the Ryan International Group, Grace Pinto (who has BJP links) is not being arrested, Khattar said the CBI would now take appropriate action after investigating the matter.
A probe has found security lapses at the school, such as too few CCTV cameras, some of them faulty, lack of police verification of employees, and bus drivers and conductors sharing toilets with the children.
Haryana education minister Ram Bilas Sharma had said the police had been asked to book the school's owner, Albert Pinto, under the juvenile justice act for "cruelty to a child meted out by the custodian".
The Central Board of Secondary Education, to which the school is affiliated, sent its own probe team on Wednesday. The board is likely to ask all its affiliated 19,500 schools to have separate toilets for staff and pupils.
Safety rules
K.K. Khandelwal, additional chief secretary with the Haryana school education department, said safety regulations had been framed for all schools and that safety committees would be formed at the district, subdivisional and school levels headed by deputy commissioners, subdivisional magistrates and school heads, PTI reported.
He said the measures included:
• Female escorts for pupils on school buses
• Maintenance of entry and exit records of all visitors to schools
• Compulsory ID cards for staff and students
• Ban on adults, except female sweepers, accessing student toilets
• Adequate CCTV surveillance
• Special attention to accident and abuse-prone areas inside schools
• Precautions against children drowning or suffering electric shocks, burns or other injuries
• Ban on constructions during school hours and on labourers coming close to the students
• Ensuring safety of neighbouring premises
• Mock drills for any type of hazard
• Sensitisation and training sessions for children, parents and staff
• Self-defence training
• Special attention to children with special needs
• Empanelling of counsellors
• A dedicated child helpline
• Prompt action on any complaints
• Awareness campaigns on Internet hazards and road safety
• Action for non-compliance
• Education minister Sharma said that other schools too could be taken over if they failed to meet the safety rules.
Buses seized
The Delhi government has impounded 250 school buses, including 10 belonging to the Ryan International Group of Institutions, during its ongoing drive against school vehicles that flout norms, a PTI report said.
The drive was launched after the alleged rape of a five-year-old girl at her school in Shahdara, Delhi, and Pradhyuman's murder.
Enforcement teams found that some drivers were not carrying public service vehicle badges and some of the conductors did not meet the Supreme Court guidelines about possessing a licence and having cleared Class X.
