Non-bailable section added to FIR

Nikhil Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 10

Taking strict action against the hotel management of the Grand Marian on the Dugri Road for showing gross negligence in the death of two hotel employees, the police today converted the case into culpable homicide. The police have also added the SC/ST Act to the FIR.

Yesterday, the police had registered an FIR under Section 304 A (causing death by negligence), IPC, along with Sections 8 and 9 of The Protection of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act 2013. Although the Section 304 A is bailable, the latter is non-bailable.

In today’s development, the police converted the 304 A, IPC, into 304 (culpable homicide), which is a non-bailable and stringent IPC section. Under this section, whoever commits culpable homicide not amounting to murder shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to 10 years, and shall also be liable to fine if the act by which the death is caused is done with the intention of causing death, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to 10 years, if the act is done with the knowledge that it is likely to cause death, but without any intention to cause death.

Police Commissioner RN Dhoke confirmed that culpable homicide charges were imposed because the gross negligence on the part of the hotel management caused two deaths. “The hotel management asked the staff members, who were not trained, to clean the choked sewerage without providing them needed safety gear, hence this established the clear negligence on the part of the hotel owner and other staff. No accused will be spared in the case,” the CP added.

When asked if any inquiry was marked in the case, the CP said no inquiry was needed as gross negligence on the part of the hotel management had already been established. “Our teams are conducting raids to nab hotel owner, Chetan Verma, and he will be arrested soon. While the co-accused, hotel manager Sooraj, has already been arrested,” the CP said.

The families of the deceased yesterday said Deepak was employed as a security guard at the hotel, while Arman was in the housekeeping department. Still, they were forced to do the odd and risky job for which they were not trained.

Meanwhile, the families of both deceased refused to conduct a postmortem, saying that till the time the accused owner was arrested, they would not allow doctors to carry out the postmortem.

A posse of police was deployed at the hotel to prevent the kin of the deceased from causing any damage to the hotel. A large number of kin gathered at the Civil Hospital.

Clear negligence on part of hotel owner: Dhoke

The hotel management asked the staff members, who were not trained, to clean the choked sewerage without providing them with the needed safety gear. Hence, this established the clear negligence on the part of the hotel owner and other staff. No accused will be spared.— RN Dhoke, Commissioner of Police