Delhi Coaching Centre Deaths: SC to hear case related to death of 3 UPSC aspirants today

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court of India is scheduled to hear a case regarding the death of three civil service aspirants at Rau’s IAS Study Circle, located in Old Rajinder Nagar, Delhi. The incident took place on July 27, when intense rainfall caused severe flooding in the basement library of the coaching centre, leading to the drowning of the students. Shreya Yadav (25) of Uttar Pradesh, Tanya Soni (25) of Telangana, and Nevin Delvin (24) of Kerala were the three UPSC aspirants who drowned.

The Supreme Court had previously criticized the functioning of coaching centres, labeling them as “death chambers” and drawing attention to the risks these facilities pose to students. This remark was made during the hearing of a petition challenging a Delhi High Court order from December 2023, which mandated inspections of all coaching centres in the capital to verify compliance with fire safety regulations.

Delhi Coaching Centre Death: Transfer of investigation to CBI

The high court had also transferred the investigation of the students' deaths from the Delhi Police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to ensure a transparent inquiry.

Preventive measure to avoid similar incidents

A bench of justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan will oversee the proceedings. This follows an earlier directive issued by the Supreme Court on September 20, instructing a committee appointed by the Union government to submit an interim report outlining preventive measures to prevent similar incidents.

Additionally, the court had directed the governments of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi to report on any legislative or administrative steps they have taken to prevent the recurrence of such incidents. The Supreme Court had emphasized that uniform measures should be implemented across the entire National Capital Region (NCR) to prevent such incidents.