Delhi hoax bomb threat: Police, Directorate of Education to file affidavits on readiness

Police officers outside Mother Mary’s School in Mayur Vihar on May 1 — the day the school received a hoax bomb threat.

The Delhi high court on Monday highlighted the absence of a specialised standard operating procedure (SOP) to safely evacuate students in the event of a bomb threat, and directed the Delhi Police and the Delhi government’s Directorate of Education (DoE) to file affidavits detailing their preparedness for such situations.

A bench of justice Subramonium Prasad instructed the authorities to specify the timeframe within which they would reach schools in case of bomb threats, the number of drills conducted under police supervision, and the steps taken to minimise a reliance on parents during evacuations. The court also asked the police to specify the steps that will be taken to investigate hoax calls to schools, and the nodal officer to be contacted in such cases.

The court was hearing a plea filed by advocate Arpit Bhargava last year in the wake of a hoax bomb threat at DPS Mathura Road, which said that the government did not have an action plan to deal with such incidents.

The petition underscored the need for regular evacuation drills and robust disaster management protocols, particularly in schools ill-equipped to handle such crises. It called for accountability in investigating bomb threats and stern action against perpetrators.

The court’s order came days after panic ensnared Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) on May 1 after more than 300 schools in and around the city received bomb threats over email, prompting institutions to hurriedly evacuate students midway through classes, even as security forces launched sweeping checks across dozens of campuses.

“There is no SOP as far as schools are concerned… How do you ensure which is the authority which will start acting on information from school? Which is the first authority that will get alerted? What is the time period that you are giving yourself from the receipt of threat to the action which is to be taken? How many times have you conducted these kinds of drills in the schools?” the bench asked advocate Santosh Kumar Tripathi, who appeared for the Delhi government.

“Though the Delhi police has also filed guidelines to deal with bomb threat at schools, it does not give data regarding number of schools in each zone, the nodal officer to be contacted by the schools, time to take action on receipt of bomb threat and the number of mock drills that may have been conducted under the supervision of Delhi Police to ensure that children are evacuated from schools without there being any panic… The said affidavit be filed by the Delhi Police and DoE, GNCTD within a period of 10 days,” the court said in its order.

During the hearing, Bhargava’s counsel Beenashaw N Soni highlighted the recent spate of hoax bomb emails, expressing concerns over the strain on resources and psychological impact on parents and students. Tripathi maintained that the police had an existing SOP, citing practical challenges in deploying personnel to every school.

Tripathi submitted that there were around 5,500 schools in the Capital, and thus it was difficult to deploy police personnel at every school. “To avoid that situation and for preparedness, the police have issued their own SOP. Every private school is informed what to do,” he said.

A DoE official present at the hearing said that the government has issued directions to schools to conduct drills quarterly. “They send the action-taken report after doing the drill. We monitor them. Regularly it is in place. Disaster management committee composition is also there,” the official said.

MHA asks schools, police to have close coordination

The Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) has asked Delhi’s schools and the police to have close coordination during bomb threats in order to ensure that misinformation does not create any unnecessary panic.

The official X account of the MHA spokesperson in a series of posts wrote, “Home Secretary reviews the situation in wake of hoax emails received by some schools in Delhi last week. He stressed the need to prepare detailed protocol and SOPs to handle any such situation in future… Home Secretary asked Delhi Police and schools to have close coordination for an effective response mechanism so that misinformation does not create any unnecessary panic.”

The spokesperson added, “Home Secretary also emphasized the need to enhance security, CCTV cameras and regular monitoring of emails in the schools. The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary and @DelhiPolice Commissioner.”

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