The Punjab and Haryana high court has directed Haryana government to ensure all schools put in place mechanism and the internal committee to deal with complaints of bullying and harassment on the basis of gender, gender identity and sexual orientation.
The case was reported in Faridabad in February 2022. Subsequently, the petitioner had not pressed for a CBI probe and sought for laying down guidelines for sensitisation of the authorities and the educational institutions to prevent harassment of students belonging to the LGBTQIA+ community and for ensuring execution of such guidelines in the schools and colleges across the country and further proper implementation of guidelines issued by the Centre on Safety and Security of Children in Schools issued in 2014. The CBSE circular of the year 2015 was in force throughout the period during which the deceased child is alleged to have suffered,” it said adding that record shows the school was informed about his condition by his mother and by his treating psychologist.
The court was dealing with a petition seeking Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into death of a child who was allegedly humiliated, bullied and also physically as well as sexually assaulted in a school due to his effeminacy. “..the facts of the present case show that guidelines which remain on paper offer little protection to a child in distress. It also directed Central Board of School Education (CBSE) to issue instructions to its affiliated schools in Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana for strict compliance its circulars from time to time and guidelines issued by the apex court. The judgment in the case in hand has been ordered to be sent to Central government to consider suggestions made in the case in hand in consultation with the National Council of Educational Research and Training and further appropriate decision be taken in six months.
“The real issue, therefore, is the effective implementation of the existing guidelines at the level of the schools,” it observed asking the Haryana government to in place mechanism to for proper implementation of these guidelines within three months.
