Schools must address bullying based on gender identity, sexual orientation: High Court

GURUGRAM The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the Department of School Education, Haryana, and the Central Board of Secondary Education to ensure that all schools situated within the territorial jurisdiction of the court comply with the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court in Sukdeb Saha’s case and that the mechanism and internal committee in every school cover complaints of bullying and harassment on the basis of gender, gender identity and sexual orientation.

The court gave directions after hearing a petition by the mother of a 16-year-old boy, a student of a prominent school in Faridabad, who died by suicide on February 24, 2022, accusing the school authorities and the headmistress of it.

Also, his artistic inclination was misunderstood by his peers as being effeminate, and he was bullied and physically and sexually assaulted by a group of students within the school premises, as per the petition.