The Bombay High Court on Thursday quashed a 2016 FIR against a teacher and the management of a Pune college over the drowning of 14 students during a picnic at Murud beach, news agency Press Trust of India reported.
The court held that the victims were adults capable of understanding the consequences of their actions and said there was no evidence of gross negligence by the teachers accompanying them.
The incident occurred on February 1, 2016, when 116 students and staff members of Abeda Inamdar Senior College of Arts, Science and Commerce in Pune went on a picnic to Murud beach in Raigad. Of the 41 third-year students who entered the sea, 14 were swept away and drowned.
About 80 days after the incident, an FIR was registered against 17 people, including college trustees, the principal, teachers and staff. They were booked under sections 304A, relating to causing death by negligence, and 34 of the Indian Penal Code.
Justice Milind Jadhav said there was no material on record to establish gross or serious negligence by the teachers accompanying the students, PTI reported. The court said the victims were third-year BSc students who possessed a reasonable degree of life experience and could be expected to distinguish between right and wrong and understand the likely consequences of their actions.
“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 said, adding that the drowning of the 14 students 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 the effective implementation of safety norms, the High Court said, “It is unfortunate that every time a tragedy involving the loss of multiple lives occurs, it is followed by widespread public outcry.” The bench said the implementation of safety norms and other preventive measures remained a matter of serious concern.
“We cannot have a knee-jerk reaction after every mishap,” the bench said, asking the government to consider introducing or strengthening safety measures at beaches in the larger interest of society.
The court, therefore, set aside the FIR after finding no direct link between any alleged negligence by the college representatives and the students’ deaths, while stressing the need for stronger preventive measures at beaches.
- Ends