Delhi bomb threat: HC asks Delhi govt for reply; police explains steps taken

The Delhi High court on Monday sought a report from Delhi Police and the Delhi government in ten days, explaining the steps it has taken to ensure that children were evacuated safely from schools in the event of a bomb scare while hearing a plea related to hoax bomb call incident in private schools in the national capital.

The Delhi High court on Monday sought a report from Delhi Police and the Delhi government in ten days, explaining the steps it has taken to ensure that children were evacuated safely from schools in the event of a bomb scare while hearing a plea related to hoax bomb call incident in private schools in the national capital. The bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad while fixed matter for May 16 2024, also sought detail of the number of mock drills conducted in schools to ensure evacuation of children without panic.

Court observed that considering the submissions on behalf of the Petitioner as well as the Respondents, the machinery available with the respondents to deal with such situations is alarmingly inadequate. The court further took note of the fact that there has been an increase in the number of bomb scares/threats in recent time and no substantial preventive steps are being implemented to curb the same.

The court observed that some special institutions such as schools or hospitals required special treatment with respect to Special SOPs being in place to ensure safety. Further, the court enquired as to what steps have been taken to handle such problem in schools. The Court directed the respondents to file an affidavit stating the number of schools present within the territory of Delhi, the response time required to reach the said spots by the police in case of a bomb threat as well as a report on whether the bomb safety drills were actually being conducted in the schools or not and if so, whom were they being supervised by.

During the hearing, it was submitted by the concerned official from the Department of Education that there is already a requirement for schools to conduct safety drills every quarter and the same is also ensured by way of submission of ATR by the said schools. The High Court was hearing a petition moved last year by an advocate Arpit Bhargav whose child studies in Delhi Public school. He has sought a direction for formulation of action plan and its implementation in a time bound manner due to bomb threat calls in schools in past years.

The matter was listed for filing of reply on behalf of GNCTD failing which an officer not below the rank of joint secretary from the Department of Education was directed to remain present in court. No reply was filed on behalf of GNCTD. Adv. Beenashaw N. Soni, appeared for the Petitioner Adv. Arpit Bhargava, along with Adv. Sarthak Sharma, Adv. Pankaj Sehrawat, Adv. Abhishek Gaind, Adv. Mansi Jain, Adv. Ann Joseph, while the State was represented by Adv. Santosh Kumar Tripathi.

It was argued on behalf of the Petitioner that despite of the urgency of the case, no concrete steps are being taken by the Respondents with respect to the situation of bomb threats in schools even the orders of the High Court dated May 23, 2024 has not been complied with. Any bomb threat, whether a hoax or actual creates a situation of panic and chaos for all stakeholders including the students, school staff as well as the concerned parents who are constrained to leave their jobs at the drop of a hat in order to pick their children from schools.

It was further argued that the lack of any SOP for such situations results in lack of coordination and chaos which ultimately delays any evacuation and in case of an actual bomb being planted, the results could be catastrophic. (ANI)

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