Madras High Court pulls up Tamil Nadu govt for toddler’s death in borewell

The Madras High Court criticised the Tamil Nadu for not taking proactive steps to seal abandoned borewells that could have prevented two-year-old Sujith Wilson from losing his life after falling into an abandoned borewell.

A two-judge bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday pulled up the Tamil Nadu government for waiting an incident like the death of two-year-old Sujith Wilson after falling into an abandoned borewell before implementing steps to prevent further tragedies.

Sujith Wilson was the 12th child to have fallen in an open borewell in Tamil Nadu since 2009. Only four of them could be rescued. (PTI Photo)

The bench comprising Justice M Sathyanarayanan and Justice N Seshasayee grilled the state government over the enforcement of rules related to borewells in Tamil Nadu.

The court wanted to know how many borewells have been given permission till date and what action has been taken against those who have violated the norms. The court also asked if the government was maintaining a list of documents related to the permission granted to drill borewells.

The bench said such incidents can be avoided if every individual acts with social responsibility.

“It is not just Sujith’s parents have lost their son. The nation had also lost a son. As a responsible citizen, everyone should have followed the Supreme Court’s guidance about maintaining the abandoned borewell,” Justice M Sathyanarayanan said during the hearing of a petition filed by V Ponraj, scientific advisor to former president APJ Abdul Kalam. The petition sought the court’s intervention to prevent such deaths of children.

Watch: 2-year-old stuck in borewell found dead after 75 hour long rescue operation

The two judges had agreed to a special sitting on Tuesday to hear the petition relating to the death of Sujith who was pulled out dead from an abandoned borewell in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruchirappalli district. Sujith was playing near the open borewell on Friday evening when he slipped into it.

The bench asked the Tamil Nadu Government to file its responses to Ponraj’s petition and fixed the next date of hearing to November 21.

Scores of rescuers worked for more than three days to save him, deploying robotic rescue devices and oil rigs to reach the toddler. He was pulled out at 4 am on Tuesday. The little boy had been dead for quite some time; his body had started to decompose.

Almost 10 years ago, the Supreme Court had taken suo motu cognisance of a spate of incidents, reported from across the country, of children falling into abandoned borewells and issued a series of guidelines to prevent such incidents from recurring. But the guidelines have largely remained on paper.

The Sc had also made it mandatory for the drilling agencies to get themselves registered either with the district administration or any other statutory authority. It also directed that signboards should be erected on the drilling sites, containing the details of the landowner as well as the drilling agency amd that there should be barb wire fencing or any other suitable barrier around the borewells at the time of drilling.

Hours after Sujith’s funeral, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) President MK Stalin visited the graveyard and paid his respects to the toddler. Stalin, who met Sujith’s parent Kala Mary and Brito Arockyaraj, accused government of failing to rescue the boy.

“The boy had died due to the negligence of the Tamil Nadu government. There are a lot of failures from Friday to Monday due to the inexperienced approach of the government. The rescue operation was done on a trial and error method. If the government had approached the issue only with experts and without the interference of ministers, Sujith could have been saved,” claimed Stalin.

Celluloid superstar Rajinikanth also expressed his condolence to the toddler’s family.

“Sujith’s death is a pain in my heat. I pray to the almighty that his soul may rest in peace,” Rajinikanth tweeted.

Trichy district collector S Sivarasu told reporters that the borewell would be sealed with concrete.

Sujith Wilson was the 12th child to have fallen in an open borewell in Tamil Nadu since 2009. Only four of them could be rescued; the last one was a 2-year-old girl who fell in a shallow borewell in Nagapattinam’s Puduppalli area in September 2018.

Sujith Wilson’s death prompted Chief Minister E Palaniswami to order district officials across the state to ensure that the rules for sealing abandoned borewells were strictly followed. Strict action should be taken against those who fail to adhere to the rules, he said.

The 75-hour-long attempt to save Sujith Wilson had made national news as the country and top leaders closely followed the rescue efforts. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also spoken to chief minister Palaniswami and asked him to spare no efforts to save the child.

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who had remembered the race against time to save the child on Diwali, has also condoled his death.