Final verdict of Kumbakonam school fire accident tomorrow

[V.Balasubramani]

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Final verdict of Kumbakonam school fire accident tomorrow

Thanjavur (TN), July 29: More than a decade after the gruesome school fire in which 94 children were charred to death and 18 others seriously injured, the final verdict of the case probing the 2004 Kumbakonam accident will be delivered by the District and Sessions Court here tomorrow.

Twenty one persons have been named in the charge sheet filed by the prosecution, which runs to over 5,000 pages.

Principal District and Sessions Judge Mohamed Ali will deliver the final judgment in the case tomorrow.

The final arguments concluded at the District and Sessions Court here on July 17. Though there were 24 accused initially, the state government had withdrawn the charges against three of them.

Of the total of 501 witnesses, 230 were examined during the trial, which included survivors (children) and parents of the 94 children, who lost their lives.

The tragic incident which brought to light poor safety conditions for children in schools across the country occurred on July 14, 2004 in Kumbakonam, when a fire sparked from the make-shift noon meal kitchen spread to the thatched hut in the first floor and killed 94 children.

At the time of the incident, over 200 children were in the thatched roof class room.

The narrow building on Kasiraman Street, which housed three schools together — Sri Krishna Aided Private School, Saraswathi Nursery and Primary School and Sri Krishna Girls High School — with the students’ strength exceeding 700 — did not have necessary fire safety equipment.

Read more at: : Final verdict of Kumbakonam school fire accident tomorrow | Business Line

 

[P.J.]

THANJAVUR: Ten years after a fire at a primary school in Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu killed 94 children, the Thanjavur district principal sessions court on Wednesday convicted 10 of the 21 accused in the case.

The court pronounced Krishna English Medium School founder Pulavar Palanichamy, his wife and school correspondent Saraswati, headmistress Santhanalakshmi and others guilty under section 304 of the IPC (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder).

The court acquitted 11 others accused in the case. They include three school teachers and eight government officials.

The fire broke out at the Krishna English Medium School on July 16, 2004. The school was functioning from a building with a thatched roof. The fire broke out at a kitchen on the premises, and the flames spread to other parts, killing 94 children. This was the worst accident at a school in Tamil Nadu.

At the time of the incident, over 200 children were in the thatched roof class room.

The trial of the case started on September 24, 2012. There were 488 witnesses, including 18 children. ​The trial in the case concluded on July 17.

The Justice K Sampath Commission set up by the state government to conduct a probe into the accident had held the school management responsible for the tragedy. The commission's report said the building on the Kasiraman Street didn't have adequate exit facilities and firefighting capabilities. It said the teachers had not been trained in disaster management.

The building housed three schools -- Sri Krishna Aided Private School, Saraswathi Nursery and Primary School and Sri Krishna Girls High School -- with a total students' strength of over 700.

Kumbakonam school tragedy: 10 held guilty for fire that killed 94 children - The Times of India

 

[tbs]

hi

we have our own attitudes.....SAB KUCK CHALTA HAI BHAI.....then we forget the incident till the next happenened....

 

[V.Balasubramani]

Kumbakonam school tragedy: Angry parents will appeal against verdict

THANJAVUR: The parents of 94 children who perished in the 2004 school fire in Kumbakonam have decided to appeal against the Thanjavur court's verdict that acquitted 11 of the 21 accused.

The parents, several of whom were present to hear the court order on Wednesday, said they were deeply disappointed by the judgment, handed down a little more than 10 years to the day one of the state's worst ever accidents took place.

Many of the parents were speechless after the judgment. Others said they never anticipated that the judge, N Mohammed Ali, would let off the hook more than half the accused, including three schoolteachers, and vowed to appeal in a higher court that all 21 be given life imprisonment.

There were heated reactions from the parents as soon as the judge acquitted 11 of the accused, stating that the prosecution had failed to prove beyond doubt the charges levelled against them.

It had been alleged that on July 16, 2004, when the fire broke out, teachers moved some Tamil-medium students to an English-medium classroom upstairs to manipulate the number of students before an education department probe. The parents alleged that the teachers locked up the students inside the classroom and went to the temple — it was Aadi Amavasai — leaving the children trapped in the classroom.

"It is shocking that 11 of the accused have escaped punishment," said R Mahesh, 44, whose son, Vignesh, a Class 3 student at the time, was burnt alive. The boy's sister Indumathi survived.

Read more at: Kumbakonam school tragedy: Angry parents will appeal against verdict - The Times of India

 

[V.Balasubramani]

Kumbakonam fire: Sampath panel had severely indicted school founder

The Justice K. Sampath Commission, constituted to inquire into the causes of the fire that killed 94 students at Sri Krishna Primary School, Kumbakonam, had indicted school founder Pulavar Palanisamy for the disaster.

The commission said in its report: “Palanisamy was the monarch of all that he surveyed, and there was none to dispute his hegemony over the schools that functioned on the same premises.” “His wife Saraswathi and niece and adopted daughter Santhalakshmi were all his assisting puppeteers. Another niece Hemalatha’s husband Prabakaran, headmaster of the school, was also a puppet,” it said.

“The schools were his fiefdom. He would defy every law under the sun and yet get away with it. Because of his avarice and shady dealing, 94 precious lives have been lost, and 18 more will carry the marks of the sordid episode for the rest of their lives. The authorities had been hoodwinked or purchased outright for allowing the management to run three schools where not even one could be run,” said the report, which was tabled in the Assembly on September 2, 2006.

The commission blamed the management for the high death toll. “The fire could have been very well averted, had the management been less avaricious and had more concern for the welfare of the children studying in the schools.”

“It was an accident due to the carelessness of the noon-meal staff and the callous indifference and criminal insensitivity on the part of the management, compounded and abetted by the departments that failed to implement and enforce the laws and safety standards.”

Read more at: Kumbakonam fire: Sampath panel had severely indicted school founder - The Hindu

 

[V.Balasubramani]

I would like to share the Editorial of ‘The Hindu’ dt:01.08.2014

"Closure to a tragic episode

The main feature of the Kumbakonam fire tragedy, in which 94 children died in the Tamil Nadu town in July 2004, was that it need not have happened. If only laws regulating schools had been enforced, and education officials had been more scrupulous in the discharge of their duties and stopped the private management from running three schools on the same premises and flouting every norm possible, the disaster could have been prevented. It is some consolation that after a much-delayed trial, a district court in Thanjavur has sentenced the school’s founder, ‘Pulavar’ Palanichamy to life imprisonment. He has been found guilty not only of culpable homicide on 94 counts, but also of forging documents that helped his school get undeserving approvals and upgrades in status from time to time. His wife and school correspondent, and the headmistress, along with staff involved in running the noon meal centre in the school, and some officials and staff in the district elementary education office have been given five-year prison terms. The verdict indicates that to some extent the State government had woken up to the real dimensions of the tragedy and did not see this as mere negligence on the part of a cook or her supervisor that led to a kitchen fire engulfing the whole building. Rather, an individual’s avarice, his treatment of education as a business for profiteering, his use of political clout to get things done, and pervasive corruption all made it an enormous crime.

Read more at: Closure to a tragic episode - The Hindu

 

[V.Balasubramani]

HC directs Chief Secretary to appear in contempt case

The Madras High Court on Friday directed the Chief Secretary and the School Education Secretary to appear on September 1 in a contempt case relating to the appointment of a retired judge to decide the compensation for the families of the victims of the school fire at Kumbakonam in 2004.

A Division Bench, of Justices N. Paul Vasanthakumar and K. Ravichandrabaabu, passed the order on a petition filed by K. Inbaraj, secretary of the Kumbakonam School Fire Tragedy Victims’ Association.

The petitioner said 94 children had died in the fire at Sri Krishna Aided Primary School on July 16, 2004. Several children were injured. The Justice K. Sampath Commission of Inquiry went into the cause and circumstances of the tragedy.

On his writ petition, the High Court on October 19, 2012 appointed P. Shanmugham, a retired judge, for deciding the quantum of compensation. Challenging this, the Tamil Nadu government filed an appeal before the High Court. It was dismissed.


Read more at: HC directs Chief Secretary to appear in contempt case - The Hindu

 

[V.Balasubramani]

HC directs Chief Secretary to appear in contempt case

The Madras High Court on Friday directed the Chief Secretary and the School Education Secretary to appear on September 1 in a contempt case relating to the appointment of a retired judge to decide the compensation for the families of the victims of the school fire at Kumbakonam in 2004.

A Division Bench, of Justices N. Paul Vasanthakumar and K. Ravichandrabaabu, passed the order on a petition filed by K. Inbaraj, secretary of the Kumbakonam School Fire Tragedy Victims’ Association.

The petitioner said 94 children had died in the fire at Sri Krishna Aided Primary School on July 16, 2004. Several children were injured. The Justice K. Sampath Commission of Inquiry went into the cause and circumstances of the tragedy.

On his writ petition, the High Court on October 19, 2012 appointed P. Shanmugham, a retired judge, for deciding the quantum of compensation. Challenging this, the Tamil Nadu government filed an appeal before the High Court. It was dismissed.


Read more at: HC directs Chief Secretary to appear in contempt case - The Hindu