Bombay HC Orders Maharashtra Govt to Ensure School Compliance With Child Safety Norms
Bombay HC Orders Maharashtra Govt to Ensure School Compliance With Child Safety Norms
Mumbai, June 26, 2025: The Bombay High Court has directed the Maharashtra government to rigorously monitor and implement its Government Resolution (GR) aimed at strengthening child safety in schools. This comes in the wake of the court taking suo motu cognisance of the 2024 Badlapur sexual assault case involving two minor girls.
A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Neela Gokhale instructed the state to deploy officers for physical verification of GR compliance across schools. The state must also collect implementation data from each school and submit a detailed, school-wise compliance report to the court.
The GR, formulated based on the recommendations of a court-appointed committee after the Badlapur incident, outlines several mandatory safety measures for all schools. These include installation of CCTV cameras, background checks for staff, clear guidelines for student transportation, sensitisation on good and bad touch, awareness of cyberbullying, and prominent display of the child helpline number ‘1098’.
The court further ordered the state to upload the GR on the education department’s official website—currently, it is only available on the general state government portal. It must also be communicated clearly to Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs).
Additional Public Prosecutor Prajakta Shinde confirmed that the GR has been circulated to schools and will be uploaded on the education department website as directed.
Moreover, the High Court asked the government to expand the GR’s scope to other child-focused institutions such as Anganwadis, Aashram Shalas, and Juvenile Boards, by incorporating specific safety clauses tailored for each.
The court’s proactive stance aims to ensure lasting systemic change in how child safety is implemented and monitored in Maharashtra’s educational and care institutions.
