Allahabad High Court
Lakhan Tomar S/O Sri Manbir Singh (In ... vs State Of U.P. on 19 April, 2007
Author: Ravindra Singh
Bench: Ravindra Singh
JUDGMENT Ravindra Singh, J.
1. The applicant Lakhan Tomar has filed Criminal Misc. Bail Application No. 17994 of 2006. applicant Asit Gupta has filed Criminal Misc. Bail Application No. 14280 of 2006 and applicant Siddharth Manohar has filed Criminal Misc. Bail Application No. 13497 of 2(X)6 with a prayer that they may be released on bail in Case Crime No. 95 of 2006 under Sections 304, 308, 427 I.P.C. P.S. Civil Lines, district Meerut.
2. It is a case arising out of a most important incident in which about 65 person lost their lives and more than 200 persons sustained burn injuries. The prosecution story in brief is that the F.I.R. of this case has been lodged by Sri R.P. Singh, Station House Officer P.S. Civil Lines district Meerut on 10.4.2006 at about 9.05 p.m. in respect of the incident which had occurred on 10.4.2006 at 6.00 pm. at Victoria Park Meerut. The F.I.R. has been lodged against the applicants and some other persons alleging that a message was flashed by the District Control Room at 6.00 p.m. that a fire was broken in the exhibition organized at Victoria Park, on that information, the first informant along with some other police personnel reached at Victoria Park and saw that the Fire Brigade was trying to extinguish the fire and the police personnel of different police stations including the senior officers were busy in shifting the injured to different hospitals and the dead bodies to the mortuary at the medical college Meerut. The Police force of various police stations of district Meerut and other districts, P.A.C. and vehicles of fire brigade reached at the place of occurrence. The organizers of the said exhibition namely Lakhan Tomar, Asit Gupta and Siddarth Manohar had not made appropriate arrangements to extinguish the fire and due to their gross negligence the massive fire tragedy had taken place in which many persons have lost their lives and many persons sustained burn injuries and the property as a whole also burnt to ashes.
3. In the present case the consumer show was organized by the applicants in the name of Brand India Consumer Show' from 6.4.2006 to 10.4.2006 at the Victoria Park Meerut in respect of the electronic items based on latest technology. The applicants arc carrying on the organisation named as Mineral Events and Exposition. In this show different electronic items were exhibited at different stalls, for this purpose 3000 sq. meter area was covered, which was made centrally air conditioned, the pandal was having three blocks marked as A,B and C in the lay out plan, which were inter connected. There was an open place between the blocks in which some of the area was covered for food stall. For the purpose of air conditioning in each block, three or four high powered A.Cs. were installed and for supply of electricity 18 generator, each generator was having diesel engine of 20 K.W., were used but no electric supply was obtained from the Electricity Department. For organising this consumer show in the Victoria Park field, the permission was obtained from the Meerut College, Meerut and the permission was obtained from the Additional District Magistrate, Meerut City and S.S.P. Meerut, the applicants had deposited Rs. 60,000/- as Entertainment Tax. For obtaining the permission from the Additional District Magistrate, Meerut City, an application dated 27.3.2006 was given by the applicant Lakhan Tomar, in which the purpose of organising the consumer show was clearly mentioned with the undertaking to follow all the provided guidelines, suggested safety and precautionary measures and for the purpose of the same a lay out plan of the exhibition was also submitted. According to the lay out plan there was only one entry in block A after covering area of block A and B and C, the exit was in block C and five emergency exits were also shown, each block of A and C was having two emergency exits and block B was having only one emergency exit but the organiser have not erected the pandal according to the lay out plan submitted before the authority concerned because according to the evidence collected by the I.O. there was no emergency exit. All three pandals were made centrally air conditioned but this fact has not been disclosed by the applicants at the time of taking the permission from the district administration, even the applicants have not disclosed the fact that the electricity consumed in the exhibition shall be generated by the generators and the electricity supply shall not be taken from the Electricity Department and the applicants have not taken any permission for the use of high powered generators for generating electricity from the electricity department whereas the permission for the use of high powered generators was legally required from the electricity department. The applicants have not taken permission for the use of high powered generators, which were 18 in number, from the Pollution Control Broad or its any other competent authority. The applicants have organised the show in violation of the undertaking given by them to the district administration, as they have not made any arrangements for the safety and they have not adopted any precautionary measures to fight with situation arising out of the electric short-circuiting its information was not given to Fire Brigade department and no permission was obtained, no fire officer had visited the exhibition place the security personnel were not deputed for the same purpose, even no water was provided by the organisers at the exhibition place and in each block of the Pandals which was legally required and the extinguishers were not installed by the organizers at the place of exhibition. The applicants have violated the provisions of Electricity law and Rules even pandal erected by the applicants was not as prescribed standard the tin shed was not used in pandal, the wiring was not done according to the prescribed guide lines, the wiring was touching the pandal and no precautions to prevent fire tragedy were taken. The inflammable material/plastic fibre was used even the pandal was not erected according to the guidelines, it was of semi arched shape. The pandals were having the capacity of three thousand people at a time. There was only one entry and one exit gate. After getting the entry, exit was after covering all the three blocks and in between the blocks, there was a food stall where eatable items were being prepared and served from 4 to 5 stalls. for this purpose cooking gas, stove/ big burners run by L.P.G. Gas were used.
4. The applicants were having knowledge that they were organizing the exhibition in utter violation of law, without taking permission as required by the law and in violation of the undertakings given by them, which resulted into a disastrous massive fire tragedy in which about 65 persons have lost their lives, they burnt alive, and about 200 persons sustained burn injuries and the property worth rupees in crores has been damaged. The applicants have organised the exhibition by concealing the material facts and by playing a fraud upon the authority concerned. The alleged incident has taken place on 10.4.2006 but the applicants have not made any effort to extinguish the fire because it was not possible for all the persons to come out from the pandal in the emergency because there was only one entry gate and one exit gate. The report of Directorate of Electric Security U.P. Shashan, Lucknow shows that the alleged incident had occurred on 10.4.2006 at about 5.30 p.m. The electricity used in the exhibition was generated by the high powered generators, for its inspection no information was given to the Electricity Department by the district administration or the organizers and for the purpose of installation of generators, no spot inspection was made and 'No Objection Certificate was obtained by the organizers. The pandal was having three blocks, which were air conditioned. The pandal was air tight, for this purpose nylon synthetic cloths was used and the same cloth was used on in covering iron structure and within 10 to 15 minutes, the panal and other items were burnt to ashes. The wiring was not properly done and there was no arrangement of earthing. For the generators used in the exhibition at least 48 cuts out were required but the organizer had used only 29 cut outs. The organizers had violated the electricity law and the rules and due to fire broken temperature rised upto 400 to 5000c. The F.I.R. was registered under Sections 304A, 333, 338 and 427 I.P.C. but after investigation charge sheet has been submitted under Section 304 308, 427 I.P.C.
5. Heard Sri Virendra Bhatia, Senior Advocate assisted by Sri Nitin Sharma Sri V.P. Srivastava, Senior Advocate, assisted by Sri Lav Srivastava and Sri S.K. Tyagi, learned Counsel for the applicant, Sri S.M.A. Kazmi, learned Advocate General of the State of U.P. assisted By Sri Mewa Lal Shukla learned A.G.A. for the State of U.P.; Sri Ravi Kiran Jain, Senior Advocate, and Sri Satish Trivedi, Senior Advocate, assisted by Sri Swetashwa Agarwal, for Meerut Victoria Park Agnikand Aahat Kalyan Samiti, Meerut.
6. It is contended by the learned Counsel for the applicants:
I. That the applicants had organized the consumer show(exhibition) to bring some products based on latest technology and products relating to various industries and major brands under, one roof thereby giving the common man insight into the latest technology being offered by these companies and to provide an opportunity to wittiness some of the latest products for commercial considerations. It was organized after obtaining the permission from the Principal, Meerut College Meerut, Additional District Magistrate, Meerut City S.S.P. Meerut and after informing the Electricity Department and fire officers for which Rs. 60,000/- were deposited as Entertainment Tax, its proper publication was made in newspapers. Its inauguration was made by the District Magistrate Meerut. The applicants have not violated any necessary rule, laws and the conditions under taken by them. For erecting the pandal etc. the Standard Exposition Company took the responsibility for providing infrastructures like erecting various pandals, electricity fitting, generators, and other infrastructures and its maintenance, who erected the pandal having 3 blocks, as per layout plan which was made centrally air conditioned for which 3 or 4 A.Cs were installed in every block, the open place was left in between the blocks in which some of the area was covered for food stalls. Every block was having emergency exits, the electricity department has refused to supply the electricity then the generators were used.
II. As per requirement the permission from the Chief Fire Officer, Meerut was necessary for which the applicants applied for grant of permission vide letter dated 1.4.2006 but same was not granted. In view of the above application the Fire Officer Meerut visited the spot and suggested certain measures to be taken by the applicants' In the light of those suggestions the applicants took all necessary precautions and fire extinguishers were installed and private security was also provided. The applicants have taken all the necessary possible precautions in organizing the exhibition and proper arrangements were made to extinguish the fire also. There was no negligence on their part. There was no illegality in organizing the exhibition and its arrangement. The exhibition was organized in a decent manner.
III. That the applicants had applied for electricity connection from the electricity department but the electricity department did not give permission and ultimately service of 18 generators was obtained. All the generators had auto cut system like M.C.V. had there been any short circuit the supply would have automatically disrupted which shows that the incident occurred not on account of the short circuit but some other agency had committed the mischief but by. the district administration just in order to save their skin, the shape of short circuit has been given.
IV. That the supply of electricity was made from the top of the roofs of every block. As per expert opinion, the temperature of the ground had risen upto 400 to 5000c and the structure which was of aluminum had also melted but for melting the aluminum the required temperature is about 700 to 8000c Which also goes to show that the alleged incident had occurred due to some sabotage from the ground level and not from the top of the block on account of the short circuiting. The expert report is not reliable it is based on hypothesis.
V. That the alleged incident has occurred all of a sudden, which was beyond the control of the applicants. The applicants being the organizer of the exhibition have made all the efforts to extinguish the fire and to protect the life of the persons in trouble VI. That it was a tragedy, which can be said the act of God for which no person can be held responsible, but the media has highlighted the episode in a manner touching the pulses of the people, as it was done by the applicants. It was sabotage, arson or an act of terrorist.
VII. That if the entire prosecution story is taken as it is, by no stretch of imagination it can be a case under Section 304 I.P.C. If it is accepted for the sake of arguments though not admitted, the maximum offence will be under Section 304A I.P.C. or an act punishable under the Electricity Act.
VIII. That the applicants are innocent, they have not committed the alleged offence but they have been falsely implicated in the present case and they are in jail for about a year, they are men of good status having no criminal antecedent, they undertake that they shall not tamper with the evidence and shall cooperate with the proceedings of trial. Therefore, they may be released on bail.
7. In reply to the above contentions it is submitted by the learned Advocate General of State of U.P. and the counsels for the Meerut Victoria Park Agnikand Aahat Kalyan Samiti, Meerut that Brands India Consumer show was organized by the applicants at Victoria Park Ground from 6.4.2006 to 10.4.2006 which was not legally permitted and the permission was obtained by the applicants from the Additional District Magistrate, Meerut City by concealing material facts and by playing a fraud. The exhibition was not organized in the terms of undertaking given by the applicants and the pandal was not installed in accordance with the approved lay out plan. In the letter requesting for permission for conducting the Brands India Consumer Show, nowhere it was mentioned that the pandals, shall be centrally air conditioned and the electricity department has refused to supply the electricity and the electricity shall be generated by high powered generators. The applicants have used inflammable material as synthetic fibre etc and no proper arrangement was made by the applicant at the place of exhibition to extinguish the fire even the required water was not kept at necessary places and fire extinguisher were not installed even a required number of auto cuts were not used and no security arrangement was made whereas it was very well known to the applicants that in such a big show where 18 high powered generators were used and wiring was not done as required standard the possibility of electric short circuiting was there. The applicants have not obtained any permission even they did not apply for taking the permission from any authority of the Pollution Control Board, whereas the place of exhibition was surrounded by the residential area also and without taking any permission, the applicants used high powered diesel generators, the pollution was created by the generators used by the applicants.
8. The Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986, provides the standard/guidelines for controlling the noise pollution from stationary diesel generator (D.G.) Sets and temperature Limit for discharge of condenser cooling water from thermal power plant.
9. The applicants have organized the show in complete violation of various Electricity Rules including Rules 29, 61(2) etc. of the Indian Electricity Rules 1956 and Section 54 of the Electricity Act, 2003.
10. Rule 47A, of the Indian Electricity Rules, 1956 reads as under:
Where any consumer or occupier installs a generating plant, he. shall give a thirty day's notice of his intention to commission the plant to the supplier as well as the Inspector Provided that no consumer or occupier shall commission his generating plant of a capacity exceeding 10 KW without the approval in writing of the Inspector.
11. Section 146 of the Electricity Act, 2003 provides punishment for non compliance of the orders or directions which reads as under:
Whoever, fails to comply with any order or direction given under this Act, within such time as may be specified in the said order or direction or contravenes or attempts or abets the contravention of any of the provisions of this Act or any rules or regulations made thereunder, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months or with fine which may extend to one lakh rupees, or with both in respect of each offence and in the case of a continuing failure, with an additional fine which may extend to five thousand rupees for every day during which the failure continues after conviction of a first such offence.
12. The applicants have violated the provisions of Section 54 of the Indian Electricity Act, 2003 and the provisions of Rule 47 of the Electricity Rules, 1956 in using the electricity in their pandals and the applicants have not taken any permission from the Electricity Department for using generators because the pandal was made air conditioned and for making pandal air conditioned, the use of the generators was not safe. It was not legally permitted.
13. The applicants have installed the pandal, which was centrally air conditioned but according to the lay out plan supplied to the District Administration pandal of block 'A' and block C were have two emergency exit each and pandal 'B' was having one emergency exit and according to the lay out map there was one entry gate in block 'A' and one exit gate in block 'C but the applicants have not installed the pandals according to the aforesaid lay out plan and no emergency exit was made in any block,, after getting entry the exit could only be made from the third pandal. In between the pandals a food stall was working where cooking gas/big burners run by L.P.G. cylinder were installed, which was not safe at all. The pandal was made of highly inflammable material, the wiring was covered by synthetic sheets and highly inflammable material, it was air tight, it also appears that wire of good quality to bear the load of electricity generated by the high powered generators was not used which resulted in short circuit. The temperature of the pandal breaking of the fire had risen upto 400 to 500 ºc and within no time the pandal etc. were converted into ashes and a large number of the people became victim of fire in which many persons succumbed to burn injuries even their dead bodies could not be identified and more then 200 persons sustained burn injuries. In the present case, the organizers were knowing it very well that they were organizing the consumer show attracting large number of peoples without adopting necessary precautions and without adopting all the safeguards to fight any causality caused by fire etc. even the peoples were not be in a position to come out from the pandals immediately. The organizers have realized the entry fee, thereafter the peoples were allowed to enter the pandal. The applicants were having full knowledge that they have organized the consumer show without completing all the necessary formalities required by law and they were having full knowledge that in case of short circuiting the lives of the people was at jeopardy, in spite of having full knowledge about electric short circuiting no precaution and safeguard to save the people from the accidental fire was taken.
14. The act done by the applicants come under the purview of the offence punishable under Section 304 I.P.C. as defined under Section 299 I.P.C. which read as under:
whoever causes death by doing an act with the intention of causing death or with the intention of causing such bodily injury as is likely to cause death or with the knowledge that he is likely by such act to cause death, commits the offence of culpable homicide.
15. The act done by the applicants cannot be treated as a simple negligence as defined for which the punishment is provided under Section 304A I.P.C. The act done by the applicants is punishable under Section 304 I.P.C. because the applicants were having knowledge that their act was likely to cause death etc.
16. It is contended by Sri Ravi Kiran Jain, Senior Advocate, that in the present case proper investigation has not been done even all the injured have not been interrogated under Section 161 Cr.P.C. Only few persons have been interrogated and the charge sheet has been submitted in a hurry and without collecting some more materials, which was available to prove the guilt of the applicants and the officers of the District Administration were also liable for the offence because they permitted the applicants to carry on the exhibition whereas it was not legally organized, only because they arc very influential and powerful persons. The incident was such a gruesome which compelled the government to set up Judicial Inquiry Commission headed by Hon'ble Mr. Justice O.P. Garg, the retired Judge of this Court, in which the inquiry is in progress in case the applicants are released on bail, they shall tamper with evidence and affect the judicial inquiry also and fair trial cannot be done. Therefore, they may not be released on bail.
17. From the perusal of the record and considering the submissions made by the parties concerned, I am of the view that for consideration of bail the broad features of the case including the gravity of the offence arc always taken into account, the gravity of the offence is too much because it has left a shocking impact on the society, about 65 persons have lost their lives and more than 200 persons sustained burn injuries, in such a circumstances if the applicants are released on bail, the confidence of the people on the judicial system shall be shaken.
18. The applicants are very influential persons because the charge sheet was submitted in hurry without collecting some more credible evidence which was available, which indicates that a fair trial, is not expected, in case the applicants are released on bail.
19. Considering the facts, circumstances of the case, submission made by the learned Counsel for the applicants and the learned advocate General and counsel for Meerut Victoria Park Agnikand Aahat Kalyan Samiti, Meerut and considering the gravity of the offence which is too much because in this case more than 65 persons have lost their lives and more than 200 persons have received burn injuries, it was a disastrous massive fire tragedy occurred due to unlawful act allegedly done by the applicants and considering the fact that applicants are very influential persons who may tamper with evidence and to ensure a fair trial, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, the applicants Lakhan Tomar, Asit Gupta and Siddharth Manohar are not entitled for bail. The prayer for bail is refused.
20. However, considering the facts and circumstances of the case, it is directed that the proceedings of the trial of the applicants be expedited without granting unnecessary adjournment to either of the side.
21. The office of this Court is directed to communicate the copy of this order to the learned Sessions Judge, Meerut for compliance of above.
22. With the above direction, all the three bail applications arc disposed of.