Mumbai court jails scrap dealer for 1 year in 2013 gas leak and fire that killed four

Mumbai, Dec 24 (PTI) A court has sentenced a 30-year-old scrap dealer to one year rigorous imprisonment for causing the death of four people, including two children, “due to negligence” in a 2013 gas leak-induced fire in a Mumbai suburb.

The prosecution had sought the accused Bablu Paswan’s conviction under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for culpable homicide, but the court said there was no evidence of specific intent to cause death.

Additional Sessions Judge (Dindoshi Court) Nandkishor More held Paswan guilty of criminal negligence.

In its verdict on December 12, the court noted that two minor children and as many women lost their lives because of Paswan’s negligent act.

The court held him guilty of offences under IPC sections 304(A), pertaining to causing death by negligence, 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life) and 285 (negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible matter).

The accused acted negligently, even though he was cautioned by the deceased and other residents, the order stated.

The judge said that the “parents of minor children have lost their growing child. So also, the family members of two women have missed their company”.

The court then ruled that the one-year prison term “would meet the ends of justice”.

The incident took place in March 2013, near a chawl in the city's Kandivali area.

According to the prosecution, Paswan was emptying a cylinder containing an inflammable gas into an open drainage line in front of his scrap shop.

Despite warnings from local residents that the act was hazardous, Paswan continued to do so, the prosecution said.

The police said that the situation turned fatal when a person, identified as Abdul Khan, nearby threw a lit cigarette into the drainage, resulting in a fire that swept through the area.

Several people had sustained severe burns, while four succumbed to their wounds.

Khan, also an accused in the case, was acquitted of all charges due to lack of evidence linking him to the ignition of the fire.

After hearing both sides and perusal of evidence on record, the court held that “it was the imperative duty of the accused No. 1(Paswan) to have adopted the course which he had neglected or failed to adopt”.

“The evidence on record sufficiently proved that Paswan acted negligently and the death and injuries caused to the victims are the direct and proximate result of his negligent act,” the court ruled. PTI AVI NR