The High Court of Himachal Pradesh on Monday directed to array as respondents two Assistant Professors of VNR Vigyan Jyoti Institute of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad, who are alleged to have negligently identified the dead bodies of two students. The Court also allowed the parents of the deceased students to intervene in Beas tragedy case, where 24 B. Tech students of the college and a co-tour operator were washed away near Thalot in Mandi district on June 8.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir and Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan passed these orders on a petition taken up suo moto by the court after taking cognizance of the news reports on the tragic incident.
The Intervener Ajay Mohan Goel pointed out the negligence of two the Assistant Professors C.V. Ram Babu and V.N.M. Rao in identification of the dead bodies, citing the affidavit of the Chief Secretary. The two had identified a male dead body found on June 19 as that of M. Shiva Prakash, which was handed over to his parents. But another dead body was recovered on July 13 in a decomposed state, with belongings of M. Shiva Prakash. It was sent to Hyderabad and after DNA test, the body was identified as that of Shiva Prakash. The Chief Secretary has expressed apprehensions that the body recovered on June 19 could have been that of K. Shree Harsha as it matches his description. The photographs of the dead body recovered on June 19 have been sent to the Hyderabad District Administration to be compared with that of the group photographs of students clicked before the incident. The court has directed the respondents to clear the air on the subject within four weeks. The decomposed body of co-tour operator Prahlad was recovered on July 27, which was identified on the basis of DNA test.
The court also directed the Chief Secretary to file affidavit after meeting the concerned departments on steps taken by the government and also asked the parties to suggest measures to prevent such mishaps in future. The court posted the matter for November 17.
