Corporal punishment at academia liable for compensation decrees CIC

New Delhi July25:The Central Information Commission (CIC) has decreed that both the school and teacher are liable to pay compensation if a child is given corporal punishment.This is in response to an RTI application by Bhramanand Mishra who had sought an inquiry into corporal punishment of a student by KV teacher Yagya Dutt Arya in Pilibhit.

The commission directed 1,099  Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) along with to voluntarily disclose whether they had framed policy on corporal punishment, details of incidents, compensation liable and paid every year starting from this academic year within three months.

The CIC asked CBSE and ICSC  schools to take suo moto cognizance of incidents of corporal punishment in schools and set up multi-disciplinary panels for inquiry into such incidents.

The information about the childwas denied by the central public information officer saying it was third party information.

Mishra had argued that he needed the information so that his daughter could secure custody of children in her marital dispute against husband Yagya Dutt Arya.

The central commission ruled the denial of information as unwarranted, and said, “Even if Section 8(1)(j) is assumed to be invoked, the school should have considered that imposing corporal punishment on children is against several laws including Juvenile Justice Act, 2000,

It further goes onto say that corporal punishment is a public wrong, its disclosure has relationship with public activity and it will be in public interest, the revelation of which would not cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual, besides larger public interest is involved in disclosure only.”

It ruled that even if the information was considered third party information, its disclosure would be justified in public interest.

The CIC ordered disclosure of the information as well as that of all teachers who had been punished for corporal assaults on children.

Instructing all KVS to adopt the guidelines against corporal punishment outlined by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), Acharyulu said, “It will go a long way in making school a place of pleasant learning free from assaults and humiliations.”