The letter will bear an apology to her parents for the agony and trouble they were made to go through after their child’s educational journey hit a roadblock because of a “mistake” committed by the school in assessing her nursery admission form.

The Delhi High Court has asked the school to write an apology letter to her parents— Rahul and Shelly Arora— expressing in unequivocal terms their extenuation over the “regretful episode” that had led to her parents being keyed up due to the issue.

Ruhani’s parents faced much difficulty after the school, having included her name in the list of selected candidates for nursery admission, did a turnaround and said her name was mistakenly published.

According to the school, Ruhani was also given points under alumni/sibling criteria, but it was later discovered that neither of her parents came under the category and scrapped her admission.

Her father alleged malpractices on part of the school and contended that if his application was incorrect, it could not have been sent for the draw of lots. Rahul, a resident of Vijay Nagar in Northwest Delhi, lodged a complaint with the deputy director of education concerned, seeking an inquiry into the entire episode.

While the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) took suo motu cognizance of the issue, he also filed a complaint with the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR).

The CWC, by an order in April last year, held the school guilty for wrongfully denying admission to Ruhani and directed the school to admit her after completing the necessary formalities.

Challenging this order, the school moved a petition in the High Court and claimed that the Commission exceeded its jurisdiction in passing the order and it did not hear it’s version. The plea stated that since Rahul’s complaint was also pending with the DCPCR, the CWC should have waited for the outcome of the inquiry.

Subsequently, the DCPCR also came out with its findings and held that the “school authorities committed an error by declaring Ruhani as having qualified for admission.” It further noted that the school ought to have gracefully accepted its fault and apologised to Rahul for their mistake.

Meanwhile, the parent informed the court that he could not have waited for a final order on the matter in Ruhani’s interest and, hence, she secured admission in a different school.

“In view of the fact that the counsel for the school states that an apology letter shall be dispatched by the school directly to Ruhani’s parents within one week, it is deemed appropriate to dispose of the petition with directions to the school to be more vigilant in future and ensure that no such incident is repeated,” held the court.