Thalassery: The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has registered a case in connection with the incident where students were made to stand under the blazing sun to greet Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and other ministers attending the Nava Kerala Sadas.

NCPCR has directed the Chief Secretary to take action and submit a report within five days. Right-wing students' organisation Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) had filed a complaint to the child rights' body on the matter.

Students, including lower primary kids, were made to stand in the sun despite a strict directive against doing so without the permission of the Department of Education. There is also a stricture saying students should not be made to stand in the open for more than seven minutes even for school assemblies.

The students were lined up by the road by around 11 am at 32-32 degrees Celsius to greet the chief minister and his cabinet of ministers proceeding to the Nava Kerala Sadas at Panur in the Koothuparamba Assembly constituency from Thalassery. The children waited under the sun till the chief minister's motorcade passed through the spot at noon.

Incidentally, none of the students were from the Koothuparamba Assembly segment. They were the students of the Chambad LPS, Chothavoor High School, and Chambad UPS in the Thalassery Assembly segment represented by Speaker AN Shamseer.

Earlier, the Principal of the College of Engineering had issued a notice, urging students to attend the Nava Kerala Sadas. The notice was reportedly issued at the behest of Speaker Shamseer.