Schools must address bullying based on gender identity, sexual orientation: High Court

Learn the reported action together with its current status. GURUGRAM The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the Department of School Education, Haryana, and the Central Board of Secondary Education to ensure that all schools situated within the territorial jurisdiction of the court comply with the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court in Sukdeb Saha’s case and that the mechanism and internal committee in every school cover complaints of bullying and harassment on the basis of gender, gender identity and sexual orientation.

Check the reported status and any stated limitations; do not assume an outcome beyond the source.

Distinguish the reported action from any further step explicitly stated in the report. However, the court said the facts of the present case showed that “guidelines which remain on paper offer little protection to a child in distress”. As per the record, the school was informed about his condition by his mother and his treating psychologist,” said the court, saying that the “real issue, therefore, is the effective implementation of the existing guidelines at the level of the schools.” The court directed the Haryana School Education Department to ensure that complaints of bullying and harassment are “dealt with promptly and confidentially, and that the cases in which a cognisable offence is disclosed are reported to the police as required by law.” The order said the CBSE must ensure that the annual reports required to be submitted to it as per the Supreme Court guidelines are called for and duly scrutinised, and that appropriate action is taken in accordance with its bye-laws in case of non-compliance.

• The court gave directions after hearing a petition by the mother of a 16-year-old boy, a student of a prominent school in Faridabad, who died by suicide on February 24, 2022, accusing the school authorities and the headmistress of it. • Also, his artistic inclination was misunderstood by his peers as being effeminate, and he was bullied and physically and sexually assaulted by a group of students within the school premises, as per the petition. • Saying that the prayer for framing fresh guidelines cannot be accepted, the court observed that the Supreme Court in Sukdeb Saha’s case had taken note of the growing crisis of student deaths suicides in the country and, in view of the binding guidelines of the apex court holding the field, no useful purpose would be served by this court laying down a separate set of guidelines on the same subject.