Coaching Centre Deaths: NHRC notice to Delhi govt, police, MCD following AISU’s complaint

NEW DELHI: Following the complaint of the All India Students’ Union (AISU), the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued notices to Delhi police, MCD, and the government over the deaths of three students in a coaching centre due to rain-induced flooding and asked them to submit a report within two weeks.

Sharing the complaint status, the student body said in a post on X (formerly Twitter), “After our complaint to NHRC, they have taken cognizance of the tragedy in Old Rajinder Nagar. This is a major step towards holding those responsible accountable and ensuring justice for the victims.”

Two female and one male students preparing for the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) civil services exam, died on Saturday due to flooding in the basement of Rau’s IAS Study Circle located in Old Rajinder Nagar . Amid massive protests over the deaths, the Delhi police arrested the coaching institute’s owner and coordinator while the Municipal Corporation of Delhi sealed the building.

As per the action taken report, the human rights panel has directed the government to conduct a thorough survey to find out the exact number of private coaching institutes running in violation of the prescribed norms across Delhi. It has asked the Govt to mention every detail of such institutes including complaints against them and actions taken by the concerned authorities in the report.

Coaching Centre Tragedy: Human rights panel demands report

“The Commission would like to know about the action taken against the responsible public servants who failed to do their lawful duty to check these irregularities," the report read. The panel also asked the Delhi government to inform about the compensation to the next of kin of the deceased.

In the case proceedings, NHRC took note of the newspaper report which narrated the tragic incident. “The Commission has carefully examined the contents of the news report which are extremely painful and distressing. The Commission is pained to know about the untimely deaths of the young students in such a tragic incident which apparently could be averted had the timely action been taken by the authorities concerned. The Commission can feel the pain of the aggrieved families,” it said.

The panel argued that the “fatal incidents” indicate “gross negligence” by the government agencies which have failed to do their duties of protecting the human rights of citizens. The apex body for human rights protection expressed concern over the “inaction” and “reckless attitude” of the government authorities and held them responsible as they didn’t control those who broke law on time and allowed running of coaching institutes even in the basements against the rules.

“It is a known fact that such private institutes are running in almost every part of Delhi as a large number of students from across the country find it a suitable place to get a reasonable institute/coaching centre for preparation of the UPSC and other competitive exams. The authorities cannot leave these lawlessly mushroomed institutes to operate at the cost of the lives of the innocent aspiring students. The Commission, therefore, takes suo-motu cognizance of the news report and directs issuance of Notices to the Chief Secretary, Government of NCT of Delhi, the Commissioner of Police, Delhi and the Commissioner, Delhi Municipal Corporation to submit a detailed report in the matter within Two weeks,” the NHRC further said in its report.