7 Years Since Kolkata's AMRI Hospital Fire, Victims' Families Still Await Justice

Dhananjoy Pal바카라�s daughter was trapped inside the burning hospital, screaming for help, but a guard allegedly prevented her from getting out. 바카라�Who will clear your dues?바카라� they asked. The 14-year-old died on the fateful dawn of December 9, 2011, one of the 94 who suffocated when fumes from a fire in the basement of the Advanced Medical Research Ins­titute Hospital (AMRI) in Calcutta바카라�s Dhakuria spread to the upper floors through air conditioning ducts.

For the last seven years, Pal, a resident of Bankura district, has made the grueling 172-km journey to Calcutta and back every single time the courts ann­ounced a hearing in the case of criminal negligence which was filed against the hospital. Seven years on, he바카라�s exhausted and dra­i­ned of resources. 바카라�We are middle-class people, without the finances required to pay for lengthy trials. We reposed faith in the legal system. But why does it take so long to get justice?바카라� Pal breaks down, rec­alling his daughter바카라�s premature death. 바카라�She was just a child,바카라� he says, his voice quivering with emotion. 바카라�If she had lived she would have been 21.바카라� Most relatives of the AMRI fire victims ask the same question. 바카라�Why is there no deadline?바카라� Paromita Guha Thakurta, who lost her mother, 64-year-old Mri­dula Devi in the fire, demands.

Immediately after the tragedy, the West Bengal government had swung into action, with chief minister Mamata Banerjee getting the entire top management of AMRI, including its owners and board of directors, arrested. In what was considered an exemplary administrative act, on her instructions, the police filed a chargesheet in just 84 days. In all, 16 officials were charged with cases of criminal negligence, including Section 304 of the Indian Penal Code (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and Section 304 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), which carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment and seven years res­pectively. They were also booked under Sections 11C and 11J of the West Bengal Fire Services Act, which pertained to flouting fire safety regulations.

바카라�The proactive role of the state government had reassured victims바카라� families,바카라� Guha Thakurta says. 바카라�But we cannot fathom what transpired subsequently to slow things down.바카라� When, a year later in 2012, the arrested people started to get bail, it disheartened the families. 바카라�If the accused were found innocent and acquitted it would not trouble us,바카라� said a relative. 바카라�But the trial was still on. Our main concern was that most of the accused being wealthy (several of them are industrialists) they could try to influence the trial. We could not compete with them.바카라�

The aggrieved, exasperated relatives for­med the AMRI Fire Vic­­tims바카라� Families Association. Its role was to monitor progress in the case and mot­ivate each other to 바카라�keep the fight going for justice바카라�. That role it performed doggedly. Raja Ganguly, who lost his 64-year-old father in the fire, flies in from Mumbai, where he works for a pharmaceutical company, to att­end hearings. Others came from Assam, other states and from distant corners of Bengal.

바카라�The travel has been taking its toll on us physically and financially,바카라� says one. 바카라�But there doesn바카라�t seem to be light at the end of the tunnel of uncertainty. Justice must be served now, not in the distant future.바카라� The total cost of travel and legal fees has crossed Rs 20-25 lakhs thus far.

Victims바카라� families say that though they were provided prosecuting law­yers free of cost by the state, most decided to hire the services of legal experts individually. 바카라�We don바카라�t doubt their (state prosecutors) efficiency, but in our experience, it is only when we pay that they are really interested.바카라�

Explains Guha Thakurta, the president of the association, 바카라�The accused have hired top legal experts, so we need to ensure that our lawyers are at least equally good.바카라� She rues that, given the gravity of the case, victims바카라� families stand alone in their resolve. Seven years later, it바카라�s the public apathy that sharpens the families바카라� sufferings. 바카라�It should concern the entire nation, because this was a man-made, public disaster, caused by the negligence of a group of people in whose care we had entrusted our loved ones.바카라� Says Guha Thakurta. 바카라�It could have happened to anyone; there should be nat­ional outrage. Why are we forced to fight this as though it was a private matter?바카라� she says, citing the Nirbhaya case, which generated so much anger that it forced Parliament to change the laws.

Guha Thakurta바카라�s mother was admitted for pre-treatment diagnostic tests and was to be released on the night bef­­ore the fire. 바카라�Now we live with the regret of not taking her out that very evening.바카라�

Seen through the cold logic of reason, removed from the pain of loss, legal expe­rts explain the delay as inevitable. Cal­cutta advocate Gitanath Gan­guly says, 바카라�In legal cases, especially criminal cases, pro­­­­cedural delays cannot be avoided. It is, unfortunately, int­rinsic to the system. For one, dates have to be decided according to the availability of both prosecuting and defence lawyers. Also, our legal system offers legal recourses to petitioners and there are appeals and counter appeals. Moreover, police investigation and witn­ess interrogation etc. are time-consuming processes. These cannot be rushed.바카라�

Indeed, lawyers of the 16 accused in the AMRI case have filed several petitions. For instance, in September 2015, a day after the Supreme Court delivered judgment on the 18-year-old Uphaar case (in 1997, after a fire in Delhi바카라�s Uphaar Cinema killed 59 people, mostly spectators, the owners were charged with criminal negligence) and waived punishment for the accused (in a later judgment in February 2017, the SC sentenced accused Gopal Ansal to a year바카라�s imprisonment), Anindya Mitra, lawyer of AMRI accused and indu­strialist R.S. Agarwal, appealed to the Calcutta High Court that it direct a lower court to hear a plea seeking the quashing of charges against his clients. At that time, the AMRI victims바카라� families were appealing to the Calcutta HC for a speedy trial, prompting the defence lawyers to plead, in a separate appeal, that their petition be admitted before that of the families바카라�. When asked about the 2015 appeal for exemption, Mitra tells Outlook, 바카라�It was for a very specific part of the case.... Beyond that I cannot comment.바카라�

The AMRI case has been heard in seve­ral courts, including lower courts, consumer courts and the sessions court. The case continues in the sess­ions court, with the Calcutta HC monitoring it. Nea­rly 400 witnesses are to be called in for testimony, not to mention the acc­used and relatives of victims. Simultaneous compensation cases were filed by 40 families with the state consumer court; 10 families filed cases in the national consumer court, which was referred to the SC. A source told Outlook that out of 50, 49 consumer cases have been settled.

Ganguly says that even fast-track courts cannot close criminal cases until the judge is thoroughly convinced of the probe and the scrutiny of evidence. On the question of trials being vulnerable to influence, he says, 바카라�The wealth, influence and power of the accused is immaterial to the judge. These do not play a role in the deliverance of justice and if they do, these are aberrations and acts of criminality.바카라�

That will provide little succour to relatives nearing the end of their tether, having borne the trauma for each day of these seven years. On December 9, they gathered for a memorial service for their dep­arted relatives. Along with prayers for their souls to rest in peace, a deepening sense of unease permeated their beings.

***

• Days after fire, 16 arrested, remanded in custody, chargesheet filed, trial starts. Speedy trial demanded in HC in 2013.

• Case in Sessions Court in 2013. Referred to HC, which monitors it. Accused바카라�s appeal for quashing of charges denied by courts.

• In 2016, all 16 charged under IPC sections, including culpable homicide. Case insessions court; next hearing: Jan 8, 2019.

By Dola Mitra in Calcutta