Shibu Thomas, Times of India, Nov 3, 2014, The Bombay high court on Monday ordered the release on bail of four builders arrested for the 2013 Mumbra building collapse that killed 74 persons and questioned the charges of culpable homicide invoked against them. Justice Abhay Thipsay said that from the evidence, prima facie, it was a case of rash and negligent act causing death, a less grave and bailable offence. The court order is a huge setback to the prosecution, whose request for a stay was rejected by the HC. Merely because construction was carried out by doing illegal acts, the knowledge requisite for constituting the offence of culpable homicide, cannot be attributed to (the four builders), said Justice Thipsay, while referring to the Bhopal gas tragedy, where the Supreme Court had held that it was a case under section 304 a of the Indian Penal Code relating to negligence. They flouted all laws for carrying out an illegal construction work with the object of making pecuniary gains. They did not take precautions to see that the construction work is of the requisite quality. They would, therefore, on these facts, be certainly liable in respect of an offence punishable under section 304 A of the IPC. It seems difficult to stretch the accusation further, and claim that they have committed an offence punishable under section 304 II of the IPC. Culpable homicide is punishable with a jail term of up to 10 years, while a conviction for rash and negligent act prescribes a jail term of up to two years and/or a fine. The judge said a larger share of the blame was on the Thane Municipal Corporation officials, who allegedly connived with the developers and accepted bribes to ignore violations. The officials are out on bail, the court said, adding that sentiments and the fact that there were many casualties were not reason enough to let the four, who were in jail for one-and-a-half years, remain there without trial. The judges questioned why section 52 of the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act for the offence of unauthorized construction was not applied. The HC clarified that its observations were for the bail application and the trial court was to be uninfluenced by it while framing the charge-sheet. The court ordered that Abdul Shaikh, Jamil Shaikh, Haddisullah Chaudhary and Abdul Chaudhari be released on a bail of Rs 2 lakh each and a surety of Rs 1 lakh. They will have to deposit Rs 7.50 lakh each in the sessions court, which is to be used as compensation for the victims in case they are guilty.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 09:43:26 +0000
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