Gurugram school murder: Probe committee finds no separate toilets for staff, inadequate CCTV cameras in campus

Gurugram: The three-member fact finding committee, formed after a seven-year-old boy was murdered in a washroom of Ryan International School in Gurugram, has found major security lapses on part of its management, Haryana education minister Rambilas Sharma said on Sunday. He said that the committee, headed by the District Education Officer, would submit its report to the Gurugram Police and Deputy Commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh.

Sharma said that the committee has found that there were no separate toilets and washrooms for the 40 bus drivers and conductors of the school.

“They had to use the students’ toilets. No frisking of bus drivers and conductors were done. No security checking system was found in the school. No CCTV cameras were installed covering each and every corner inside school,” the minister said. Also, he said that one could easily enter into or get out of the school premises after climbing over the boundary walls. “The windows and grills of the students’ toilet, in which the Class II student Praduman was killed, was found broken,” he added. [caption id=“attachment_4030577” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of the scene of the crime. Image courtesy: 101 Reporters[/caption] The Education minister also said that the top management and proprietors of school would also come under the ambit of FIR as their negligence appeared clearly in the brutal murder of seven-year-old Praduman Thakur. He said that the government has announced a holiday on Monday in Ryan International School in order to “maintain peace and harmony” near the premises. Sharma also said that from now on, it would be the “duty and responsibility” of every school in Haryana to pick up and drop students from school to home. Assuring the victims’ parents who are demanding strict action against the school management, the minister said that the guilty would be brought to justice and “if parents of the child insist on a CBI probe, the government will accept it”. “Police will file a charge sheet in the fast-track court within a week. If parents of the murdered student are not satisfied with their investigation, then the state government is ready for a probe by any agency, including the CBI”, he said. Sharma also said that the government accepts that there was negligence on part of the school management, but “the school cannot be derecognised as the future of 1200 students was at stake”. “We have directed the Gurugram Police to book the owner of Ryan International School, under section 75 Juvenile Justice (care and punishment act) Act 15 for punishment for cruelty to child meted out by the custodian and the charge sheet be submitted in the court within seven days,” he said. Protests by parents and locals outside Ryan International School took a violent turn on Monday, after an agitating mob set ablaze a liquor shop near the school, police said, adding that police had to resort to baton-charge to control the mob and 20 protesters have been detained. He also said that liquor shops, situated near the schools, would be closed down as the protesters alleged that the bus drivers and conductors often used to consume alcohol from the liquor shop in their free time. The accused Ashok Kumar also worked as a bus conductor of the school. After the violent protests, Varun Thakur, father of the victim, made an appeal to agitating parents to protest peacefully to make their demands heard. “I want to request all parents who are supporting us that please do not get involved in violence,” he said. Over 50 people, including nine journalists, were injured in the lathi charge by the Gurugram Police.