Asks authorities to take action against offenders
The High Court on Thursday declared illegal all kinds of corporal punishment of students, such as canning, beating, chaining, forced haircut and confinement, in primary and secondary schools and madrassas.
The bench of Justice Md Imman Ali and Justice Sheikh Hasan Arif also asked the authorities concerned to take action against the teachers’ involved in corporal punishment as misconduct as such punishment was extrajudicial action.
‘Such punishment is a clear violation of children’s fundamental rights to life and liberty,’ the court said.
It also said that national as well as international laws prohibit such acts and call for prevention and prosecution for violations.
The court also issued some directives to prevent such punishments by teachers in the name of discipline.
The directives include dissemination of the court’s final guidelines on prohibition of corporal punishment subject to some amendments and inclusion of the definitions of ‘misconduct’ in the Government Servants Discipline and Appeal Rules 1985 to prevent any breach of the prohibition of corporal punishment. It also ordered that inspection of schools and madrassahs record incidents of corporal punishment and complaints made and investigate such incidents and take action against those responsible.
It also calls for preventive action and security of the victim and said that any inquiries into such incidents must be confidential and ensure protection of the victims.
The directives also include establishment of a national commission or committee with secretaries of the ministries concerned, to monitor actions taken in line with the directives; establishment of district level monitoring committees under the deputy commissioners and forming committees through the district development coordination committees. The National Monitoring Committee will have to provide a report to the High Court on actions taken in compliance.
The court pronounced the verdict after the final hearing in a public interest litigation writ petition filed by rights organisations Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust and Ain o Salish Kendra.
Earlier on July 18, 2010, the High Court ordered the government to stop corporal punishment. It also asked the education ministry to immediately instruct all primary and secondary educational institutions through a circular to stop such corporal punishment of students.
The court also asked the ministry and all education boards to report to the court in two months on the measures taken to investigate such incidents and prosecute and punish the offenders.
It asked the government to explain why the involvement of government employees in such violence and the failure to take effective measures for prevention of corporal punishment and prosecution of offenders should not be declared a violation of the rights to freedom from cruel and inhuman treatment.
The government will also have to explain why it shouldl not be directed to conduct training for all teachers, regular inspection and monitoring of schools and to disseminate information through the national media about corporal punishment as a human rights violation.
The petitioners’ counsel Sara Hossain mentioned 18 incidents of corporal punishment last year as reported by the media.
The court observed that the government had failed to take appropriate and adequate action to address 14 separate cases of corporal punishment, including the one that led to the suicide of a 10-year-old boy.
