Your Opinion…

Why Should the Indore Incident Not Be Considered Culpable Homicide?
• Ranjan Srivastava

       So far, 17 people have died. Many others are still admitted to hospitals. The cause is gross administrative negligence and insensitivity, because if the problems of the residents of Bhagirathpura had been heard in time and immediate solutions had been provided, these deaths could have been prevented. And why blame only the administration? The question also arises as to what the government was doing. Was it completely unaware of the ground reality? Is it possible that people had been complaining for months about the supply of dirty and foul-smelling water and the government remained oblivious—especially when Indore’s district in-charge minister is the state’s Chief Minister himself, Mohan Yadav, and the Urban Development and Housing Minister, Kailash Vijayvargiya, is himself a resident of Indore and spends most of his time there? Vijayvargiya himself has stated that he received a complaint about dirty water 15 days earlier and forwarded it to the Commissioner.

      It is noteworthy that Kailash Vijayvargiya’s department itself is the umbrella body for urban local bodies and monitors their functioning. While Vijayvargiya acknowledges that the incident occurred due to systemic shortcomings, he does not forget to say that he is not personally responsible for this tragedy. During a meeting held in Indore amid this tragedy, according to the local media, even Indore Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargava went so far as to say that officers do not listen to him at all. As far as the Municipal Corporation is concerned, local media reports state that the work of laying a new pipeline in Bhagirathpura was supposed to be completed by August, but officials kept sitting on the file. In other words, at some level or another, there was not just negligence but gross negligence, the brunt of which was borne by the residents of Bhagirathpura, who, while waiting for the government and administration to act, were forced to continuously consume contaminated water.

Under Section 100 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, culpable homicide is defined as follows: Whoever causes death by doing an act, if that act is done with any of the following—(1) with the intention of causing death, or (2) with the intention of causing such bodily injury as is likely to cause death, or (3) with the knowledge that the act is likely to cause death—commits the offence of culpable homicide. The essential elements of this offence are that the death must be of a living person, and there must be a concurrence of the act and the mental state. Section 101 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 explains the special circumstances in which culpable homicide amounts to murder, such as a very high degree of intention or knowledge, or where no exception applies. If the conditions of Section 101 are not fulfilled, or its exceptions apply, then it is culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Section 105 prescribes punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder—for instance, if the offence is committed with the intention of causing death or grievous harm, the punishment may be imprisonment for life, or imprisonment of either description for a term of five to ten years, along with a fine. However, if the offence is committed only with knowledge—without intention, but with awareness of the likelihood of death—then the punishment may extend up to ten years of imprisonment (of either description) along with a fine.

Now the question arises: can the Bhagirathpura incident in Indore be considered culpable homicide? And if yes, why? Administrative negligence in this incident is evident. Sewage from the police outpost’s toilet was entering the drinking water pipeline, resulting in the supply of contaminated water, due to which 17 lives have been lost so far, and many people are still undergoing treatment, several of whom are in serious condition in the ICU. There was no intention to kill, so Section 302 (murder) cannot be applied. However, if it is proven that the responsible officers/contractors had knowledge that their negligence could result in death, and despite that they did not repair or replace the water pipeline, then it can amount to culpable homicide.

But the crucial question is: how seriously is the government taking this matter? Is it prepared to consider this incident as culpable homicide, and will it order a judicial inquiry to ascertain which officer was negligent and at what level? The manner in which the government has tried to move forward by removing the Municipal Commissioner from Indore and suspending two officers does not suggest that it is truly serious about the matter or that it intends to ensure punishments for the guilty officers that would set an example. However, the truth is also that if a judicial inquiry is conducted, negligence at the level of the government itself may come to light, which could become a major embarrassment for the government.

Shri Ranjan Srivastava is a senior journalist. After serving as Bureau Chief and senior journalist with the English dailies Hindustan Times and Free Press, Bhopal, and other prestigious newspapers, he is currently based in Bhopal and regularly writes independently on contemporary issues and politics.

Contact:94253-51688
Email: ranjansrivastava1@gmail.com

 

Bhagirathapura incident