Panchkula school assault: Haryana Human Rights Commission seeks safety audit of all schools

Chandigarh. Suspending two teachers will not fix what went wrong at a Panchkula government school where a six-year-old girl was allegedly assaulted, the Haryana Human Rights Commission has said. It has asked the state government to consider a time-bound safety audit of every school in Haryana.

The Full Commission, made up of Chairperson Justice Lalit Batra and members Kuldip Jain and Deep Bhatia, issued its order on Friday. It said the October 28 incident at Government Model Sanskriti Senior Secondary School, Sector 20, was “not merely a matter of negligence at an individual school”. The Haryana Human Rights Commission wants to know how many teachers were watching the children, whether pupils from different classes were being taught together, how the CCTV cameras were monitored and why the injured girl did not get help in time.

The Commission was blunt about staffing. The 30:1 pupil-teacher ratio under the Right to Education Act, 2009, “does not mean that a teacher is permitted to leave 30 children unsupervised”, it said. Nor can two groups of children from different classes simply be put into one room.

Police have said an eight-year-old Class 3 pupil allegedly attacked the girl. She was referred from Civil Hospital, Sector 6, to PGIMER, Chandigarh, and media reports on November 1 said she was stable and out of danger. Two teachers have been suspended and an FIR has been registered against the school management. Justice Batra and Assistant Registrar Dr Puneet Arora inspected the school on October 31.

Citing the Haryana School Safety Regulations, 2017, and the Union Education Ministry’s 2021 school safety guidelines, the Commission set out eight steps. Parents should attend awareness sessions on positive parenting and the effect of violent online games on children. Teachers should be trained to spot bullying and aggression early, and child psychologists should be available at the school or cluster level.

Cameras must cover corridors, staircases and classroom doors, with named staff to watch and save the footage. Every school should follow one standard set of safety rules, and empty teacher posts must be filled, with extra care for children in Bal Vatika. The statewide audit should come with deadlines to fix the gaps it finds. District and sub-divisional safety committees should inspect schools regularly, and children should have a private way to report bullying without fear.

The Haryana Human Rights Commission has asked five authorities for reports. The Principal Secretary, School Education, must share duty rosters and CCTV footage, and the Panchkula Police Commissioner must report on the FIR and the evidence. The Panchkula Deputy Commissioner must explain what the inquiry committee has done. The PGIMER Director must report on the girl’s treatment and counselling needs, and the Director General of Health Services and the Panchkula Civil Surgeon must respond to claims that her treatment was delayed.

The names and details of both children must be kept strictly confidential in all records.

Dr Arora said the Commission does not see this as one school’s failure. It sees it as a wider question of the “life, safety and dignity of children in schools”. The next hearing is on January 28, 2027.