Verdict in Kumbakonam fire tragedy case on July 30

The District and Sessions Court at Thanjavur, where the trial was held, will deliver the verdict on July 30.

School children paying floral tributes to Kumbakonam fire accident victims, at a school in Dindigul. File photo: S. Karthikeyan

 A decade after raging blaze snuffed out >the lives of 94 children of a private school in Kumbakonam>, the stage is now finally set for the judgment.

The District and Sessions Court at Thanjavur, where the trial was held, will deliver the verdict on July 30.

The ghastly incident took place at the Sri Krishna High School in temple town Kumbakonam on July 16, 2004 raising serious questions about the state of basic education and safety and schools.

Eighteen students suffered grievous injuries in the fire at the school sand-witched between residential buildings on the Kasiraman street.

The entire arguments pertaining to the case concluded at the District and Sessions Court at Thanjavur on Thursday. The Principal District and Sessions Judge Mohamed Ali posted the case for judgment on July 30, according to the prosecution.

Although there were 24 persons named as accused,

> the cases against three accused were subsequently withdrawn by the State government.

Among the 21 accused include the school correspondent ‘Pulavar’ Palanisamy, his wife Saraswathi, adopted daughter Shanthalakshmi, then Kumbakonam Municipal Commissioner Sathyamurthy and Town Planning Officer Murugan besides some Education Department officials. 

The Kumbakonam East police had booked a case under IPC sections including 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) read with 120-B (conspiracy), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) 465 (forgery) 285 (negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible matter) and 199 (false statement made in declaration) besides section 23 of the Juvenile Justice Act, sections 46 and 47 of the Tamil Nadu Recognised Private Schools (Regulation) Act, 1973 and section 320 of the Tamil Nadu District Municipalities Act. 

The voluminous charge-sheet runs to about 5,000 pages and the trial commenced on September 24, 2012. The Special Public Prosecutor R. Madhusudhanan is the government counsel. 

Out of the 501 witnesses, 230 of them were examined during trial that included student survivors and parents of the 94 children.

Prosecution contention

The main contention of the prosecution was that Accused 1 – Palanisamy, Accused 2 – Saraswathi and Accused 3 Shanthalakshmi had not followed the rules and regulations of the Education Department.

There were three schools which functioned within the same building – Sri Krishna Aided Private School, Saraswathi Nursery and Primary School and Sri Krishna Girls High School – with the students’ strength exceeding 700.

In order to boost students’ strength of the school, children in the English medium Saraswathi Nursery School and Sri Krishna Girls High School were sent to the Krishna Aided Primary School during the time of inspection of education department officials, the prosecution contended.

This was done for the purpose of appointment of teachers in the ratio 40:1.

 The fire that broke out in the noon meal kitchen shed spread to the first floor with thatched roof where 200 children were kept.

 The prosecution further contended that the noon meal shed was not properly maintained and that the Municipal Commissioner and the Town Planning Officer failed in their duty to inspect it.