‘School, teacher liable to pay compensation for hitting kids’

Highlights

• The Central Information Commission has held that a school and teacher are liable to pay compensation if a child has been subjected to corporal punishment
• The commission has also asked school boards like CBSE and ICSC to take suo moto cognizance of incidents of corporal punishment in schools

NEW DELHI: In a significant order, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has held that a school and teacher are liable to pay compensation if a child has been subjected to corporal punishment.

The commission directed Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) to voluntarily disclose whether they had framed policy on corporal punishment, details of incidents, compensation liable and paid every year starting from this academic year within three months. There are around 1,099 Kendriya Vidyalaya schools in the country who could be affected by this order.

The commission has also asked school boards like CBSE and ICSC to take suo moto cognizance of incidents of corporal punishment in schools and set up multi-disciplinary panels for inquiry. The order by information commissioner M Sridhar Acharyulu comes in response to an RTI application by Bhramanand Mishra who had sought an inquiry into corporal punishment of a student by KV teacher Yagya Dutt Arya in Pilibhit.

The information was denied by the central public information officer saying it was third party information. Mishra had argued that he needed the information so that his daughter could secure custody of children in her marital dispute against husband Yagya Dutt Arya. The commission ruled the denial of information as unwarranted, and said, "Even if Section 8(1)(j) is assumed to be invoked, the school should have considered that imposing corporal punishment on children is against several laws including Juvenile Justice Act, 2000, is a public wrong, its disclosure has relationship with public activity and it will be in public interest, the revelation of which would not cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual, besides larger public interest is involved in disclosure only."

It ruled that even if the information was considered third party information, its disclosure would be justified in public interest. The CIC ordered disclosure of the information as well as that of all teachers who had been punished for corporal assaults on children. Directing KVS to adopt the guidelines against corporal punishment outlined by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), Acharyulu said, "It will go a long way in making school a place of pleasant learning free from assaults and humiliations.''

Source | http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/School-teacher-liable-to-pay-compensation-for-hitting-kids/articleshow/53371425.cms

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Pralhad Jadhav

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Khaitan & Co

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