HC directs state government to collect detailed compliance reports on school safety website

The initiative follows the August 2024 Badlapur incident, in which a cleaning staff member allegedly sexually assaulted two pre-primary students, exposing severe safety lapses in the school, prompting the court to demand statewide preventive mechanisms

MUMBAI: Nearly a year after the Bombay High Court took suo motu cognisance of the safety of children in schools, in wake of the sexual assault of two pre-primary students in a Badlapur school, the court on Friday reviewed the state government’s portal to track safety measures taken in schools and ordered to seek detailed particulars from schools instead of simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers for compliance questions on the portal.

Bombay High Court (HT Photo)

Following the court’s earlier orders, the state government came up with an online portal to track key safety measures such as CCTV installation, background verification of teaching and non-teaching staff, formation of child protection committees, and functioning of complaint mechanisms.

During the hearing, additional public prosecutor Prajakta Shinde told the division bench of Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Justice Sandesh Patil that the website went live on October 5. “Of the 1,08,169 schools in Maharashtra, 88,256 have already uploaded safety-related data on the platform, which can be accessed publicly by searching for the school’s name,” she said.

The initiative follows the August 2024 Badlapur incident, in which a cleaning staff member allegedly sexually assaulted two pre-primary students, exposing severe safety lapses in the school, prompting the court to demand statewide preventive mechanisms.

While reviewing the website on Friday, the judges noted that several schools had responded with only ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers to compliance questions and observed that such brief responses were inadequate. The bench directed the government to seek detailed particulars from schools, ensure monthly updates on the portal, and conduct surprise inspections to verify the information.

The court further ordered that each school appoint a nodal officer to handle parent queries and that details of the website be widely publicised through newspapers and school notice boards so parents can independently track compliance.

Amicus curiae Rebecca Gonsalves highlighted that the uploaded data must be physically verified by the concerned officials.

The court adjourned the matter for eight weeks, noting that while it was ‘satisfied with the website’s functionality,’ it would continue to monitor its implementation.