Bombay HC flags lack of student safety measures as 70% govt schools have no CCTV in Maharashtra

This came after the School Education department informed the court that CCTV facility was yet to be installed in 45,315 (70.92 %) schools out of the total 63,887 government schools in Maharashtra including zilla parishad and municipal schools. The court was also informed that of the total 44, 435 private/aided/partly aided or self-funded schools, 11,139 (25.06%) schools were so far lacking such facilities. The said data has been updated till August 29, 2025.

A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Sandesh D Patil was hearing a suo motu plea initiated by it taking cognisance of news reports of the alleged sexual assault of two four-year-old children by a cleaning staff member at a school in Thane district’s Badlapur.

On Friday, Additional Public Prosecutor (APP) Prajakta Shinde for state government informed the bench that the education department had uploaded May 13 GR on safety of school students on its website and officers are being deputed in various districts to take stock of implementation of the GR and data of compliance will be made available.

APP Shinde, when asked, submitted that the state Women and Child Development (WCD) department, however, has not issued such a GR for residential schools in the state. Moreover, it was informed that the state Tribal Development department has issued GR for Ashram Shalas.

The bench noted it was “extremely unhappy” and “surprised” that the WCD had not taken any steps to issue GR despite assurance during an earlier hearing on June 24.

“One department does not know what the other is doing. It is a sorry state of affairs. Also ensure periodic surprise checks to see if CCTV facilities are made available,” the HC orally remarked.

The court ordered the WCD to issue such GR keeping in mind safety requirements of residential schools within two weeks.

The court also perused details submitted by the state government related to compliance of the May 13 GR by government and private schools as on August 29.

Besides lack of CCTV facilities, the court noted that complaint boxes were yet to be installed in 2,415 government schools and 4,061 private schools in the state. It added that the Sakhi Savitri Committee was yet to be formed in 2,415 government schools and 4,144 private schools.

Moreover, character verification whilst appointing staff members was yet to be done in 25,150 government and 15,675 private schools.

The court was also told that safety measures for transportation of students including verification of drivers and GPS system in buses and appointment of female attendants were yet to be implemented in 46,188 (72.29%) government and 22,148 private schools.

It further noted that 17,651 government schools did not have code of conduct for visitors in school and the same was lacking in 9,333 private schools. Nearly 2,266 government and 3,231 private schools in Maharashtra are yet to form safety committees.

The court raised concerns about lack of implementation of the GR and directed that details and checklist of compliance by schools including government and private schools, Ashram Shalas, residential schools and Anganwadis be put up on government website and same be updated every fortnight.

The court posted further hearing to record compliance of its directions on September 30.