Khurda Additional District and Sessions Judge on Thursday reserved its order on bail petition of Manoj Nayak, promoter of SUM Hospital, where the fire tragedy claimed 28 lives.
The bail petition was heard for more than two hours during which both prosecution and defence presented their arguments. Subsequently, the judgment was kept reserved.
“Prosecution submitted case diary with regards to fire mishap. We argued that Mr. Nayak did not have any liability in the incident. The organisation is guided by UGC norms. The role of Mr. Nayak was very limited and he did not have any direct relationship with active management,” said S. S. Das, Mr. Nayak’s counsel.
“There was no negligence on our part. Even if we assume that there was negligence, it can be charged under Section 304 A (causing death by negligence) instead of 304 of IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) charged by prosecution. My client can maximum be charged under Section 285 of IPC (negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible matter),” Mr. Das said. Bail petition of Pusparaj Samantsinhar, Medical Superintendent of SUM Hospital, was also heard on Thursday.
The fire tragedy had claimed 19 lives on October 17. Nine more patients who were shifted to other hospitals had so far succumbed to burns.
Meanwhile, six different associations associated with private professional and technical institutions took out a rally demanding unconditional release of Mr. Nayak.
“We strongly oppose the arrest of Mr. Nayak. The incident that had happened at SUM Hospital was a horrendous accident. We agree that there were lapses, but for this the trustees cannot be held responsible. He should be immediately released unconditionally,” said Binod Dash, honorary secretary of Odisha Private Engineering College Association.
“Authorities, who should have monitored fire safety measures, are responsible for such tragedy. The promoter of the hospital is being unnecessarily harassed,” Mr. Dash pointed out.
Meanwhile, Commissionerate police for Bhubaneswar and Cuttack summoned trustees of Siksha O Anusandhan Charitable Trust, Saswati Das, wife of Mr. Nayak, and Arti Ranjan Nayak, his sister, to make themselves available for questioning within seven days.
