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Bengaluru leads charts in cases against civic bodies over deaths due to negligence
Despite the feat, police face criticism from city-based activists for not taking these cases to their logical conclusion.
Bengaluru leads the list of cities registering cases against civic authorities for deaths due to negligence in 2020, according to the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report.
Bengaluru registered a total of 18 cases, accounting for 85% of cases booked across the country. Mumbai and New Delhi accounted for the three other cases. Even though the number of cases is less compared to 49 in 2019, the numbers remain promising as the city had booked civic authorities for their negligence only thrice in 2018.
A senior traffic police official said, in the past few years, there has been demand among people to hold the civic agencies responsible for the death due to bad infrastructure. Citing a recent case where a 64-year-old was killed in an accident because of the bad condition of the road, the official said a case was registered against the civic agencies immediately after the incident.
Despite the feat, police face criticism from city-based activists for not taking these cases to their logical conclusion.
A senior lawyer in the city, who is the petitioner in the case filed against the bad condition of the city’s infrastructure, said FIRs are not registered in most of the infrastructure related cases. “The Bengaluru police didn’t give us data on the convictions stating that a separate database is on maintained for the same. So, we went through the cases that we knew of and in none of these cases, either charge sheets have been filed or any officials have faced action,” said the lawyer, who didn’t want to be named.
On March 15, a 27-year-old man was killed after his two-wheeler ran into a pothole created due to Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) work on Subhash Chandra Bose Road at Muneshwara Layout near Vidyaranyapura, north Bengaluru. This was the fifth death in a road accident caused by unsafe road conditions in Bengaluru in the past seven months. The police registered a case of death due to negligence under IPC Section 304A (causing death by negligence) against officials from Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and BWSSB, but no officer was named. Instead, the FIR stated the accused as “officials of BBMP and BSWSSB”.
On Monday, a 14-year-old student was killed near Hebbal flyover on Ballary road (airport road) after being hit by a lorry. Identified as Akshaya, she was forced to cross the busy airport road since the underpass she normally used to take was filled with rainwater. The lorry is operated by BBMP for garbage disposal, said a police officer.
“Around 12.30, five girls were crossing the road. The subway near the road was filled with water. So, they jumped over the medians and tried to cross the road. While four others managed to cross, Akshaya was hit by a lorry which is used by the BBMP to transport waste. She died while she was being rushed to the hospital,” said Savitha S, deputy commissioner of police (traffic north).
When questioned about the waterlogging in the subway that resulted in the accident, BBMP commissioner Gaurav Gupta merely said that “everyone should ensure that such incidents are not repeated in the future”.
Civic experts also pointed out the trend of an increase in the number of pedestrian deaths in the city. The number of pedestrian deaths in 2021 decreased by three compared to 2020. The report stated that 273, 164 and 161 pedestrians were killed in road accidents in 2019, 2020 and 2021, respectively. Two-wheelers claimed the lives of more pedestrians followed by lorries.
Srinivas Alavilli, Head, Civic Participation, Janaagraha said the problem with road design is that they are created only for vehicles. “Skywalks and underpasses are an attempt to push people off the streets. This has to change and soon,” he said.
