New Delhi [India], March 5 : The Karkardooma Court acquitted a person accused in a 27-year-old case related to death and injuries due to negligence. The case pertains to a ceiling collapse during the construction work of a house in the Bhajanpura area in September 1999.
It took 27 years for Shiv Dutt to get acquitted in this case. Now he is not even able to walk. His grandson attended the court on the date of the judgement.
An FIR was lodged on September 16, 1999, on the complaint filed by Murari Lal Sharma, who was one of the injured. One of the prosecution's witnesses turned hostile during the trial. Other witnesses also did not support the case of the prosecution.
Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) Pankaj Rai acquitted Shiv Dutt, noting that the prosecution failed to prove that the incident resulting in death and injuries was caused due to his negligence.
"As such, the prosecution has failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the charges against the accused under Sections 337, 338, and 34 IPC," the judgement said.
Shiv Dutt was the owner of the house. He had given the contract for repair of his house to Shahzad alias Bhura, who died during the trial of the case.
While acquitting Shiv Dutt, the court said that the prosecution witnesses failed to prove that the injuries to the victims occurred directly due to the rash and negligent act of accused Shiv Dutt.
"It is observed that he was not responsible for repairing or maintenance of the said building after engaging an independent contractor for carrying out the repair work. The contractor had special knowledge of construction work without interference from the accused," JMFC Pankaj Rai said in the judgement dated February 20.
The court also noted that there is no expert opinion or structural engineer report on record to show that the accused Shiv Dutt had any pre-existing knowledge that the building was structurally weak. Most of the prosecution witnesses were purely formal in nature.
Prosecution witness Jai Prakash, who was the neighbour of the accused, turned hostile during the trial.
The court held that it cannot be said beyond reasonable doubt that the incident took place due to negligence on the part of the accused. None of the facts proved on record show that the death of the deceased or the injuries sustained by the injured were due to the negligence of the accused.
"In fact, accused Shiv Dutt cannot be held responsible for any rash and negligent act of the contractor, if any. Like the other offences charged in this case, there is also no material on record to show that there existed a common intention on the part of accused Shiv Dutt to commit the offence with co-accused Shahzad (since expired)," the court said in the judgement.
The court directed the Delhi Legal Services Authority (DLSA) to compensate the victims in this case.
The court said that though there is an acquittal of the accused in the present case, the responsibility of the State cannot be ignored either to provide justice to the victims or to compensate them.
"In fact, the injured and family members of the deceased are entitled to compensation under the Delhi Victim Compensation Scheme. The matter is referred to the Learned Secretary, DLSA, North East, to consider compensation for the victims/dependents/family members, as applicable, under the Delhi Victim Compensation Scheme and award them suitable compensation as per rules," JMFC Rai ordered.
It was alleged that on September 16, 1999, at about 10:00 a.m., information was received regarding the collapse of a ceiling in a house in Arjun Gali, Maujpur, Delhi, and the entrapment of 15-20 labourers underneath it.
On reaching the spot, the police found a large crowd gathered and came to know that the injured had already been shifted to GTB Hospital by PCR vans and CATs ambulance.
In this case, the victims--namely, complainant Murari Lal, Ashok, Anil, Mahesh, Ilyas, Deepak, and Om Prakash--were injured, while Wahid died.
During the investigation, it was revealed that the owner of the building, accused Shiv Dutt, had assigned the construction work of the roof on the first floor of his house to a co-accused contractor, Shahzad (since expired). The lifting of the *lenter* was in progress when suddenly the said *lenter* collapsed and fell on the labourers working there. Seven people received injuries in the incident, and one life was lost.
Advocate DD Pandey appeared for the accused Shiv Dutt and argued that the prosecution witnesses did not support the case of the prosecution and that there was no material to convict the accused in this case.