Delhi: FIR against swimming pool management after 6-year-old boy drowns

Police said the initial inquiry revealed that no safety measures were in place at the pool and CCTV cameras were also missing

Following the drowning of a six-year-old boy in a swimming pool at Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s (MCD) Community Centre in northwest Delhi’s Pitampura on Friday, Delhi Police on Sunday said they have registered a death by negligence case in the matter.

The boy, Taksh Rathi, lived with his mother in northwest Delhi’s Bakhtawarpur.

Police said the initial inquiry revealed that no safety measures were in place at the pool and CCTV cameras were also missing. The boy, Taksh Rathi, lived with his mother in northwest Delhi’s Bakhtawarpur, while his father lives separately.

According to Rathi’s grandfather, Lakshman Bhatt, the kid went to the Community Centre’s swimming pool at 9.30am on Friday with two teenaged boys from the same neighbourhood. “The boys assured his mother that they will look after him and only allow him to enter the pool in the presence of lifeguards. At the spot, when the three boys entered the pool, the elder ones swam ahead. When they looked back, they found Taksh missing and raised an alarm. The lifeguards rescued Taksh from the water. He was rushed to a nearby private hospital, where doctors declared him dead. Our family was informed about the drowning around 10.30am,” Bhatt said, adding that Rathi had already taken swimming classes and he knew how to swim.

Bhatt said the swimming pool management claimed that the lifeguards rescued the boy from the swimming pool just five seconds after he drowned at the 3-feet-deep spot. “The doctors told us that he could not have drowned, had he been rescued in five seconds. The doctors suspect that Taksh was under the water for two to three minutes,” he added.

Deputy commissioner of police (northwest) Bhisham Singh said preliminary investigation revealed that a man — resident of west Delhi’s Madipur — had taken the swimming pool on lease from MCD around two years ago in the name of his wife. “We are issuing a notice to the woman and her husband, who were running the swimming pool after taking it on lease, to join our investigation. We have been told that some lifeguards were present to handle such emergency situations. They will also be asked to join the probe,” Singh said. The FIR was registered under Section 106 (causing death by negligence) at the Maurya Enclave police station.

Rathi was the only child of his parents — Kirti Rathi and Manjeet Kumar Rathi.

DCP Singh said that a team visited the drowning spot and found that no safety measures were adopted by the pool management and there were no CCTV cameras installed. “Doctors told us that the cause of death was drowning. We are waiting for the autopsy report to ascertain the exact cause,” added Singh.

The pool operators who had taken the facility on lease could not be contacted.

The drowning death has raised concerns about the safety norms and lack of oversight at the public swimming pool facilities in Delhi. The MCD operates 15 such swimming pools which are outsourced to private operators.

While the MCD spokesperson did not respond to queries regarding the police probe, an official from the civic body blamed the pool operator.

A senior MCD official on condition of anonymity claimed that the agency provides NoC to private operators the seasonal swimming pools require fresh permission every year.

Official from the department overseeing the pools said that the civic body is cooperating with the investigation, however, as per the agreement, the licensee is responsible for abiding by the regulations laid down in the Delhi Swimming Pool Licensing and Controlling Regulation 1980.

“The agreement clearly states that licensee shall be responsible for all the necessary steps and precaution to prevent any mishap or accidental loss of life in the premises. In case, if any mishap occurs due to the negligence on the part of the licensee or the staff, the they would be held responsible and liable for all the consequences,” the official claimed.