The government has ordered immediate police verification of teaching and non-teaching staff at schools in the wake of the gruesome murder at Ryan International School. But is it progressing?
The back-to-back episodes of violence against children on school premises — the gruesome murder at Ryan International School in Gurgaon and the rape of a five-year-old girl in an east Delhi school near Gandhi Nagar — has left both the government and the authorities scrambling for answers.
Pradyuman Thakur’s murder led to mass protests by parents across Delhi-NCR last week, bringing to focus gross security and safety lapses on school premises.
Sensing the panic, Lt-G Anil Baijal and Delhi police commissioner Amulya Patnaik ordered for immediate police verification of teaching and non-teaching staff at school.
Education Minister Manish Sisodia, too, set up an independent panel comprising retired and working school principals along with officials of Directorate of Education of Delhi government. Moving a step further, he also decided to put in place neighbourhood inspection teams, involving retired IPS officials and active parents.
In fact, Delhi government has appealed to retied IPS officers living in Delhi-NCR to join the initiative voluntarily.
Police across Delhi is now busy with verification of school employees.
City Spidey spoke to Ankit Chauhan, ACP 2 of East Delhi, Madhu Vihar, on the issue.
He said, “It’s our daily job and it has got to be done. For verification outside the state, we send our queries to the particular district police office. We also post them the relevant documents. They do the verification for us. Physical visits are not always possible, but we do so in serious cases.”
Lack of computerised access to information from other states makes the verification process even more arduous.
Admitting the fact, Randeep Singh, additional ACP 1 of Sarita Vihar, South Delhi, said, “If the verification is within Delhi, the process is completed in two-three days. It depends on the merit of the case. If the person, or the accused, is a native of another state, the whole thing takes at least two months.”
BR Bedi, a retired IPS officer who now lives in Lovely Apartment in Mayur Vihar Extension, said, “Under normal circumstances, police verification is a lengthy process. People submit the application with documents required to the area police station and it goes to head office of the district police. If applicants are out of state, the file moves to headquarters of the state police. It is then sent to respective state police or district police through post.”
He continued, “This time taken also depends on the reply from the state police or the particular district police. Coordination between the states in sharing information is important. In serious cases, head of district sends a letter to the particular district police to seek help.”
