Mumbai, Oct 23 The Bombay High Court has quashed a 2016 FIR against a teacher and the management of a Pune college in connection with the drowning of 14 students off the Murud beach, holding that the victims were adults capable of understanding the consequences of their actions.
The incident occurred on February 1, 2016, when a group of 116 students and staff from Abeda Inamdar Senior College of Arts, Science and Commerce in Pune went on a picnic to Murud in Raigad district. While at the beach, 41 third-year students ventured into the sea, 14 of whom were swept away and drowned.
Nearly 80 days after the incident, an FIR was registered under sections 304A (causing death by negligence) and 34 of the Indian Penal Code against 17 individuals, including college trustees, the principal, teachers, and staff.
In his ruling, Justice Milind Jadhav held there was no material on record to establish any gross or high degree of negligence on the part of teachers accompanying the students.
The court asserted that the victims, being third-year BSc students “possessing a reasonable degree of life experience”, could be expected to understand the distinction between right and wrong and to appreciate the likely consequences of their own actions and conduct.
“It is seen that it was in this context that these applicants permitted them to enjoy the fun and frolic on the beach,” the court noted, adding that the death of 14 students by drowning was an accident.
In the absence of any incriminating material establishing a direct or proximate connection with any negligent act leading to the deaths by drowning, liability or criminal act cannot be attributed to negligence on their part, the court ruled.
Calling for effective implementation of safety norms, the HC said, “It is unfortunate that every time a tragedy involving the loss of multiple lives occurs, it is followed by widespread public outcry.”
However, effective implementation of safety norms and other preventive measures continue to remain a matter of serious concern, the bench said.
“We cannot have a knee jerk reaction after every mishap,” the bench said while asking the government to consider taking or fortifying measures at beaches in the larger interest of society.
