Delhi High Court Seeks Delhi Police Response On Hoax Bomb Threats In Schools

The Delhi High Court on Monday sought a status report from Delhi Police in a petition related to hoax bomb emails in Delhi Public Schools and other schools.

The High Court has also directed to file an action plan for dealing with such incidents.

Justice Prathiba M Singh issued notice to Delhi police and Delhi Government on the petition of Advocate Arpit Bhargav.

Advocate Beenashaw Nanda Soni appeared for the petitioner. Petitioner's child studies at Delhi Public School. She submitted that such incidents cause extreme trauma and stress to the parents.

The bench has called for a status report from Delhi police in a petition related to hoax emails related to bombs.

The high court has also sought a complete action plan to deal with the issue in six weeks.

The bench, at the suggestion of Delhi Governmen's counsel, has also impleaded Action Committee of unaided schools and another organisation representing schools.

The high court has directed the petitioner to file an amended memo of the parties in one week.

The matter has been listed on July 31 for further hearing.

The petitioner said he is aggrieved by the inactions and lackadaisical approach of the Delhi Government and Delhi Police in dealing with frequent bomb threat emails received in schools in Delhi and the consequent failure of authorities to ensure the safety and security of children, teachers, staff, and the other stakeholders in schools in Delhi and to avoid its recurrence, leading to extreme trauma, stress, harassment, inconvenience, and fear in the mind of all including the petitioner whose child is studying in DPS Mathura Road where one such incident took place recently on April 26, 2023.

Petitioner has sought formulation of a detailed action plan and implementation of the same by the Government and Police as there is no action plan that the Petitioner could see anywhere in relation to such incidents which can cause havoc in anyone's family and can have a large impact.

The action plan is in relation to dealing with such repeated incidents of bomb threats in schools across Delhi, and preparing for regular evacuation drills and other exercises to be undertaken for the safety and security of children studying in schools that are ill-equipped to deal with such disasters, the petition submitted.

Petitioner Arpit Bhargav has also sought steps that are taken by the Delhi Police in the recent past to avoid repetition in future in relation to bomb threat emails received in schools in Delhi.

He has also sought direction to Delhi Government and Delhi police to identify miscreants, take strict action against such persons, and fix accountability in a time-bound manner so that regular schooling is not disturbed every now and then due to such hoax bomb threats by a few who are taking the system to ransom.

In November 2022, a miscreant emailed about the presence of a bomb in the INDIAN SCHOOL, Sadiq Nagar. However, it turned out to be a hoax.

On April 12, 2023, an email was received in the INDIAN SCHOOL, Sadiq Nagar in relation to the presence of a bomb on the school premises.

"However, as per media reports, it again turned out to be a hoax and ever since then, there has been no response from either Government or police disclosing the steps taken to avoid the recurrence of such incidents. Not only this, as per media reports, to date, Delhi police itself is not aware of the identity of the perpetrator," the petition said.

On May 11, 2023, another email was received in DPS Mathura Road in relation to the presence of a bomb in the school premises where the child of the Petitioner studies. However, it again turned out to be a hoax.

"Concerted efforts and mechanisms need to be put in place to eliminate the chances of such incidents being repeated again especially when the concerned area is the schools where the future generation is in the process of being nurtured," the petitioner said.

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 to them, he added.

The petition submitted that the 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 including regular evacuation drills involving each and every parent and child, automatic intimation in case of emergency instead of manual calling, streamlining processes outside schools to eliminate a chance of chaos and other improvements.

"Suggestions can also be obtained from all the parents/teachers (without disclosing their identity) by involving them and other stakeholders in the policy-making process," the petitioner submitted.

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