Bomb Scare In Schools: High Court Seeks Response Of Delhi Govt, Police On Nodal Officers And Mock Drills

The Delhi High Court on Monday sought response of the Delhi Government and Delhi Police on the nodal officers responsible for taking action in case they receive bomb threats at schools and the number of mock drills conducted in schools to ensure evacuation of children without panic.

Justice Subramonium Prasad also asked the authorities to indicate the number of schools in each zone and the time to be taken by the nodal officers for taking action in case of a bomb threat.

The court asked the authorities to file the affidavit within 10 days, also indicating various circulars issued by the Delhi Government on the issue from time to time.

The Delhi Police has also been asked to indicate in its response the action taken for investigating the hoax calls received in the schools.

The court was dealing with a plea seeking a detailed action plan to deal with bomb threats in the schools to ensure safety and security of children, teachers and staff in the national capital.

The plea has been moved by Advocate Arpit Bhargava, contending that there is no action plan at present to deal with such incidents “which can cause havoc in anyone's family and can have a large impact.”

Referring to a recent incident where various schools in Delhi received hoax mails about bomb threats, Bhargava's counsel submitted that everyone in the city is affected as every household has a kid.

“Parents are traumatized and insecure. Everyone is insecure. I have filed this petition in 2023, a year has passed and nothing is in place. Are we waiting for a bomb to happen or explode in a school?,” the counsel said.

Delhi Government's counsel, Santosh Kumar Tripathi, told court that the Delhi Police had filed an affidavit stating that it has an SOP to deal with hoax and actual bomb threat calls. He said that there are around 5,500 schools in the national capital and it is difficult to deploy police personnel at every school.

“Deployment at every school with modern equipments is not possible and feasible. To avoid that situation and for preparedness, the police has issued its own SOP. Every private school is informed what to do,” he said.

Tripathi further added that as per the SOP, once a bomb threat is received, the first step is for the school to inform the police and second step is evacuation of children.

To this, the court remarked that the Delhi Police's SOP is general in nature and there is no special SOP as far as schools in the national capital are concerned.

“There are some institutions which require special treatment. For example hospitals… and schools where children are right from nursery to 12th. What is it that you've done to ensure that children studying in schools….do you have any special SOP to handle such a problem?,” Justice Prasad asked Tripathi.

On court's query, an officer from Delhi Government's Directorate of Education told court that the schools are directed to conduct mock drills to handle such situations and are also asked to send an action taken report after doing the exercise.

The court was informed that mock drills are taking place in schools regularly and that every school has an evacuation plan.

The matter will now be heard on May 16.

The plea sought preparation of the action plan to deal with “repeated incidents of bomb threats” in schools across Delhi. It also states that regular evacuation drill and other exercises must be undertaken for safety and security of children studying in schools.

Bhargava has relied upon an incident that happened in November last year where an email was received about a bomb in the Indian School which later turned out to be a hoax.

“Another school was targeted in a similar manner [in April] wherein some miscreant sent an email in relation to presence of bomb in DPS Mathura Road school premises thereby leading to chaos, mental and emotional trauma for one and all including the Petitioner whose child studies in the same school. However, thankfully, it again turned out to be a hoax,” the plea states.

It has been submitted that a mechanism needs to be in place to eliminate the chances of such incidents being repeated again.

Bhargava submits that if the children studying in schools are under repeated and constant threat, it is the collective failure of one and all to provide a safe environment

“Urgent need of the hour is to address the issue (s) raised in the instant petition without any further delay and to have a detailed action plan formulated in regard to such incidents of bomb threats in schools and implement the same in a time bound manner with detailed Standard Operating Procedures to be followed for one and all including regular evacuation drills involving each and every parent and child, automatic intimation in case of emergency instead of manual calling, streamlining process outside schools to eliminate chance of chaos and such other improvements,” the plea adds.

Title: ARPIT BHARGAVA v. GNCTD & ANR.