BYJU’S: According to the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), Byju’s, an educational technology company, is allegedly buying the phone numbers of children and their parents and threatening to ruin their futures if they do not purchase courses from it.
“We came to know how Byju’s buying phone numbers of children and their parent rigorously following them and threatening them that their future will be ruined. They’re targeting first-generation learners. We`ll initiate action and if need be will make report and write to government,” Priyank Kanoongo, chair of the NCPCR, stated to ANI on Tuesday.
The commission summoned Byju’s Raveendran, the CEO of Byju’s, last Friday and requested that he appear in person on December 23 in connection with allegations of misrepresenting and hard-selling the company’s courses to students.
What does the press report claim?
Based on a press report claiming that the BYJU’S sales team was engaging in unethical behaviour to persuade parents to purchase their courses for their kids, the Commission initiated action. “As the Commission has come across a news article wherein it has been pointed out that the sales team of BYJU’S is indulging in malpractices to lure parents to buy their courses for their children. lt has also been mentioned in the news report that some customers have also claimed that they were exploited and deceived, and had put their savings and futures in jeopardy,” According to a statement from NCPCR.
According to the statement from the Commission, the news article also claimed that BYJU’S had been aggressively misleading customers into signing loan-based agreements for courses that couldn’t be repaid even if they wanted to.
The story also states that the ed-tech platform has received numerous complaints from parents but has done nothing to address them, according to the child rights commission.
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Section 14 of the CPCR Act of 2005
According to Section 14 of the CPCR Act of 2005, the Commission has all the authority of a civil court trying a case under the Civil Procedure Code of 1908, in particular, with regard to the following matters: (a) the discovery and production of any document, (b) the receipt of testimony on affidavits, (c) the requisitioning of any public record or a copy thereof from any court or office, and (d) the issuance of commissions for the examination of witnesses or documents, (e) summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person and examining him on oath” it stated.
It stated that Raveendran “would be susceptible to the penalties of the non-attendance as established in Rule 10 and Rule l2 of Order XVI of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908” if he disobeys the order without a valid cause.
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