A bench of justice Swarana Kanta Sharma refused to grant pre-arrest bail to the two contractors– Himanshu Gupta and Kavish Gupta, noting that the incident in question was a “preventable accident”
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed the anticipatory bail pleas of two directors of a private firm allegedly linked to a fatal excavation accident in west Delhi’s Janakpuri earlier this month, concluding that a young life had been lost due to human negligence and a complete disregard of duty.
A bench of justice Swarana Kanta Sharma refused to grant pre-arrest bail to the two contractors– Himanshu Gupta and Kavish Gupta, noting that the incident in question was a “preventable accident”.
The judge concluded that the accident occurred as a result of a breach of mandatory duties and the absence of essential safety measures at the site.
These included the lack of adequate safeguards to prevent a person or vehicle from falling into the excavation, the non-availability of necessary rescue equipment, the absence of first-aid facilities, and the failure to ensure prompt intimation and intervention by the police and medical authorities.
Public roads, the court in its order said, cannot be allowed to be converted into death traps, reduce human life to collateral damage or contractual work and cannot be allowed to evade responsibility thereafter.
“In the court’s view, it was a preventable accident and the negligence as well as the knowledge of the likelihood of such an incident taking place stares hard from the facts of the case. It is high time that citizens of Delhi are no longer taken for granted and lives are valued. Incidents, such as a present one cannot be treated as a violation of terms of the contract, rather the loss of an innocent young life, a member of the community, must be acknowledged and mourned,” the court said while pronouncing the verdict.
It added, “When a pit measuring about 20 feet in length, 13 feet in width and 14 feet in depth is dug in the middle of a busy road, in utter violation of the tender and traffic police conditions, with no blinkers, barricades or safety measures, and no safety equipment, would inevitably result in an untoward incident. Breach of mandatory duty and absence of mandatory safety measure has resulted in the death of an innocent citizen and a message must go to the community that a person or entity awarded a public contract undertakes responsibility and if the responsibility is abdicated, accountability and law must follow.”
A detailed copy of the verdict is awaited.
The incident had occurred on the intervening night of February 5-6, when the deceased Kamal Dhyani, an employee with the private bank in Rohini was returning home. He fell into the pit dug for a sewer project with his bike suffering fatal injuries.
According to police, Dhyani remained trapped for nearly eight hours. Investigators alleged that several individuals, including Prajapati, became aware of the incident but did not alert authorities or initiate rescue efforts in time. Prajapati and a labourer, Yogesh, have been arrested in the case.
Police said a passerby, Vipin Singh, first alerted a nearby security guard, who informed Yogesh. Yogesh then contacted Prajapati, who allegedly informed the firm’s directors nearly an hour later. However, police were not notified during that period.
