Mahendergarh accident: HC rejects anticipatory bail plea of school director

On April 11, a bus of GL Public School, Kanina, carrying 37 students met with an accident near Unhani village in Mahendergarh, leaving six students dead and 19 injured

The Punjab and Haryana high court has rejected an anticipatory bail plea from the director of the Mahendergarh school, observing that administrators can’t evade from their responsibilities.

The director Subhash Yadav had approached high court seeking interim bail arguing that he was neither the bus driver nor its owner. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

On April 11, a bus of GL Public School, Kanina, carrying 37 students met with an accident near Unhani village in Mahendergarh, leaving six students dead and 19 injured. The bus driver was allegedly drunk at the time.

The director Subhash Yadav had approached high court seeking interim bail arguing that he was neither the bus driver nor its owner. It’s the bus driver’s fault and the petitioner’s custodial interrogation would amount to “nothing”.

“…when parents put their faith in a school establishment and entrust their child’s safety to it, such a sensitive and immense responsibility needs to be taken solemnly and should be approached with great caution, utmost seriousness and diligence. The school administrators cannot simply play the blame game, attributing faults to others and evade their fundamental, implicit/explicit duties, obligations and liabilities under the guise of ignorance or negligence,” the bench of justice Anoop Chitkara said while dismissing the anticipatory bail plea.

The court underlined that the fundamental reason for existence of institutions like schools is to nurture and develop the children. “Schools are established and administered, keeping the primary consideration of the welfare of children in mind, striving to cater to the constantly evolving needs of a growing child; within a safe, nurturing and supportive environment. A laxity of such massive proportion, that led to the loss of lives and limbs of so many children, cannot simply be ignored, looked past by or dismissed. Such a harrowing incident is a profound loss for us all, with its devastating impact on families affected to be incalculable,” the court further recorded adding that the lives lost can’t be brought back and those affected would forever bear its physical and mental scars, coping with the associated trauma.

“It is the duty of us all and especially the legal justice system to ensure a fair and thorough investigation. It is imperative to highlight, identify and hold accountable all those who were responsible for bringing about such a catastrophe, not only to serve justice but also to ensure that such a tragedy does not repeat itself due to mismanagement and negligence of the authorities concerned, under our collective watch,” it added.

The state had argued custodial interrogation was required to ascertain the prior interactions with the driver specifically regarding his alcoholism and on how many occasions there were signs of alcohol intoxication. It also needed to be ascertained whether any verification of his addiction was conducted.

Dismissing the plea, the court observed that given the severe nature of the allegations and the reasons cited by the police, the court was convinced that such evidence could only be collected when he would be subjected to custodial interrogation.