E-Paper
Himachal fire incident: Land owner booked for negligence
Accused Kuldeep Singh, a resident of Mubarikpur village, has been booked under sections 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 304A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code on the complaint of Ramesh Dass, whose three children were among those dead
Himachal Pradesh’s Una police on Friday booked the owner of the land where a fire had broken out on Wednesday night and claimed lives of four children of migrant labourers at Banne-Di-Hatti village.
Accused Kuldeep Singh, a resident of Mubarikpur village, has been booked under sections 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 304A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code on the complaint of Ramesh Dass, whose three children were among those dead.
Ramesh claimed that the accused had rented out shanties to them at ₹5,000 per month. He (the accused) had also provided them with electricity connection, but the wiring was not proper, which caused the fire, he alleged.
Four children, including three siblings (two brothers and a sister), were charred to death in the fire accident.
Ramesh lost his daughter Neetu, 14, and two sons, Golu Kumar, 7, Shivam Kumar, 6, while his relative Kalidas’s son Sonu Kumar, 17, had also died in the blaze.
All four children were sleeping in one of the two shanties. They didn’t get a chance to escape as the fire engulfed the shanty in no time.
Meanwhile, the local administration has provided an ex gratia relief of ₹1 lakh to the affected families.
Former Gagret MLA Rajesh Thakur also extended financial aid to them.
The administration has yet to ascertain the reason behind the fire.
