Flat owner charged with negligence in death of five-year-old girl

The Bhandup police have registered a case against the flat owner for negligent acts not amounting to culpable homicide

Mumbai: Nearly a year after the death of a five-year-old girl due to a falling slab in her family’s rented flat, the Bhandup police have registered a case against the flat owner for negligent acts not amounting to culpable homicide. The family had repeatedly informed the owner about the poor condition of the ceiling, but no repairs were made.

The girl was rushed to Mulund General Hospital and then to Sion Hospital. (Pic for representation)

The incident occurred in a flat on the second floor of building 4B, Aghadi Nagar, Zakaria Compound, Bhandup (West), where Latif Muhammad Akram Shaikh, 32, lived with his family since October 2021. The flat, owned by R. Siddiqui, is part of a 30-year-old building. Shaikh had alerted the owner multiple times about the damaged ceiling slabs, which appeared likely to collapse.

The incident occurred on the night of July 18, around 1:30am, Shaikh and his wife were awakened by a loud noise. They rushed to the hall where their daughter had been sleeping with her grandparents and found that a portion of the ceiling slab had fallen on her. She was bleeding from her nose, mouth, and the back of her head. The girl was rushed to Mulund General Hospital and then to Sion Hospital, but due to a lack of ICU beds, she was transferred to Child Care Hospital in Haji Ali, where she was declared dead during treatment.

“Initially, an Accidental Death Report was registered while the police awaited the post-mortem and building structural audit reports,” a police official said. “Once both reports confirmed the flat owner’s negligence, a case was registered based on the deceased’s father’s statement. The father alleged that the owner’s refusal to repair the damaged roof slab led to its sudden collapse, causing his daughter’s death.”