4 years later, Kamala Mills fire victims still await justice

Altogether 14 people were booked by the Mumbai Police, including the owners of the restaurants and their employees, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials, and the mill owners.

On December 29, 2017, around 12.30 am, a fire broke out first in 1Above and then spread to Mojo’s Bistro restaurant inside the Kamala Mills compound, killing 14 people and injuring several others.

The Mumbai sessions court on November 10, 2020, discharged the owners of the Kamala Mills compound (PTI)

Altogether 14 people were booked by the Mumbai Police, including the owners of the restaurants and their employees, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials, and the mill owners.

The Mumbai sessions court on November 10, 2020, discharged the owners of the Kamala Mills compound -- Ramesh Gowani and Ravi Bhandari -- booked in connection with the 2017 inferno. The court, however, refused to discharge the owners of the restaurant, BMC officials and others.

Gowani and Bhandari had claimed that they cannot be booked for the incident as they had no connection with it. They contended that they had given the restaurant premises to their respective owners on lease and therefore they cannot be held responsible for the acts of commission or omissions of the restaurant owners.

The court rejected the discharge plea of nine others -- Kripesh Mansukh Sanghavi and Jigar Mansukh Sanghavi, Lisbon Lopes and Kevin Bawa of 1Above; owner of Mojo’s Bistro pub - Yug Ravindrapal Singh Tuli; fire officer Rajendra Baban Patil; BMC’s sub-engineer Dinesh Yashwant Mahale; assistant divisional fire officer (Worli division) Sandeep Shivaji Shinde and hotelier Vishal Kariya.

All the accused face charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder among others under the relevant provisions of the Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measures Act, 2006.