A day after a devastating fire at AMRI Hospital, Dhakuria, claimed at least 91 lives, the lawyers representing the seven directors of the hospital who have been arrested, did not move bail petition for the accused following protests by lawyers and law clerks of a court here at Alipore on Saturday.
While both lawyers and clerks demonstrated outside the Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate with banners and raised slogans demanding punishment of those arrested, the Bar Association of Alipore court asked its members not to represent the accused in the hospital fire.
Six of the seven to be arrested were produced in the court as one of the directors was reported to be hospitalised. They were remanded by the court to police custody for ten days.
“Let that be recorded that we could not move the bail petition,” Amitava Ganguly, one the lawyers representing the accused told the court and did not move the bail petition of the accused. Later Mr. Ganguly said that there was denial of “constitutional rights” of the accused by not allowing the bail petition to be moved.
Counsel for the State, Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee said that not only Kolkata but the entire country has been shocked by the incident. “There has been reckless violation of the law by the hospital,” Mr. Banerjee argued pointing out that there was negligence on part of the accused in following the fire safety norms.
Demanding that the accused be remanded to police custody for 14 days Mr. Banerjee justified the charges being brought against them under section 304, 308 and 34 of the IPC along with charges under section 11C of the West Bengal Fire Services Act.
After hearing the arguments the Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate on Saturday sent the accused in police custody for ten days till December 20. In his order he also noted the protest of the Bar Association.
Six directors of the AMRI Hospitals, Dhakuria S.K. Todi, Ravi Todi, R S Goenka, Prasanta Goenka, Manish Goenka and Dayanand Agarwal were arrested at Lalbazar the headquarters of Kolkata Police after they surrendered on Friday evening.
Police personnel have been posted outside the nursing home of the seventh accused Radheshyam Agarwal who was hospitalised before the incident and is undergoing treatment.
The counsel of the State government claimed that although they arrested the seventh accused he has not been interrogated.
Hence the six accused who were produced in the court should be remanded to police custody.
“The prayer for the police custody of the accused number seven will be moved on physical production,” the CJM observed in his order.
