NEW DELHI, Nov 14:
Seventeen years after a fire broke out in a garments factory here leaving three workers dead, a Delhi court has held guilty the supervisor of the factory for failing to take adequate safety measures.
Metropolitan Magistrate Rajinder Kumar, while convicting Hitesh, supervisor of the factory in Jahangirpuri here, awarded him two years jail term for the offence of causing death by negligence under section 304-A of the IPC.
“Hitesh being the supervisor, it was his duty to provide safe environment to employees/workers, who used to work under his supervision.
“The conduct of a supervisor should be of commanding nature and not of the demanding nature. The supervisor is not supposed to wait for a demand, to be raised by the staff working under his control as to what should be the measures to be adopted in case of any mishappening in the factory,” the magistrate said while convicting him.
The court, which also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on Hitesh, relied on the testimony of the complainant Sanju, a worker of the factory who got injured during the fire incident in 1997.
“As per story of prosecution, supervisor Hitesh himself was present at the spot at the time of the incident…The prosecution has proved its case beyond all reasonable doubts that it was Hitesh who failed to provide fire extinguisher and other devices in the factory and acted rashly and negligently so as to endanger human life and personal safety of others…
“…He caused hurt to complainant Sanju and also caused death of workers Mahender, Pappu and Prempal, thus committed offences punishable under sections 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 304A (causing death by negligence) of the IPC,” it said.
According to prosecution, on November 21, 1997 at around 3 AM, Sanju was working overtime in the factory with his three colleagues Mahender, Pappu and Prempal, and had slept in a hall there when it caught fire.
When Sanju woke up, the fire had engulfed most of the area and his colleagues had got injured. Sanju managed to escape from a door to seek help for them but was held by Hitesh, who was standing outside the hall and did not do anything to help the workers, who later died in the incident, it said.
The police said, Sanju, who also suffered injuries, was taken to a hospital for treatment, and later lodged a complaint against Hitesh and a manager of the factory.
As the manager died during the trial, proceedings against him were abated.
In the complaint, he said the supervisor, failed to provide fire extinguisher and other devices in the factory and acted so rashly and negligently so as to endanger human life and personal safety of others.
During the trial, the supervisor claimed innocence and said he was falsely implicated, adding that he tried to save the complainant and also sustained injuries in the process. (PTI)
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