Delhi High Court seeks report from Police on bomb scare in schools

The Delhi High Court on Monday directed the Delhi Police and the Delhi government to submit a report explaining the steps it has taken to ensure that children are evacuated safely from schools in the event of a bomb scare..Justice Subramonium Prasad asked the police and the Delhi government to give details about the number of mock drills held in schools and the time it would take for the police and other authorities to reach a school if there is a bomb threat.The Court added that the authorities should explain what steps are in place to ensure the least dependence on parents in the event of such bomb threats since the primary responsibility of evacuating children rests with the schools and the authorities.Justice Prasad further ordered the government and the police to explain the steps taken by them to investigate hoax calls received by various schools.The status report has to be filed in ten days as the Court will hear the case next on May 16. .The Court was dealing with a petition filed by advocate Arpit Bhargava last year seeking directions for the formulation of a detailed action plan by the police and the education department to ensure that proper action is taken against hoax calls regarding bomb threats.The plea also sought directions to ensure that there is a proper response plan which can be implemented across schools in the national capital.The Delhi Police and the government filed a status report in the matter which was considered by the Court today..On May 1, more than 100 schools in Delhi NCR received an email warning them of bomb blasts at the school premises. Several schools were evacuated and students were sent home as well..When the petition concerning such bomb threats was heard today, the Delhi government’s Standing Counsel Santosh Kumar Tripathi told the Court that there are nearly 5,500 schools in Delhi, making it impossible to station police personnel at each of these schools..Justice Prasad, meanwhile, noted several important aspects were missing from the report submitted by the Delhi Police and government.“There is no Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) as far as schools are concerned… When we are dealing with certain institutions like a school or a hospital, they require special SOPs. So, what is it that you have done to ensure that children studying in schools are evacuated? Suppose it is a primary school. Which is the authority that will act immediately on information received from school? Which is the first authority which is going to get alerted when an information comes that there is a bomb in the school ... How many times have you conducted the drills in schools? How do you monitor it?” the Court queried.As the details were missing from the status report, the Court granted time to the authorities to file a detailed affidavit..Advocate Beenashaw N Soni appeared for petitioner Arpit Bhargava.