The Delhi High Court today expressed concern over a government school teacher being booked for the death of an 11-year-old student who fell in an open manhole in a city park during a picnic.
“If the manhole was visible and the teacher had sent the boy, then he could have been made liable,” a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar said while questioning the counsel for the Delhi Police over its move to prosecute the teacher.
“Why did you (police) not charge the parents for sending the child to school,” the miffed bench said after it was informed about the police action in the case .
The court had initiated the matter after taking note of the incident in which the school boy had fallen into an open water harvesting pit at the Millennium Park in south Delhi and died on December 21, 2015 during a school picnic. He had drowned before help could reach him.
The court said that it failed to understand how police could prosecute the teacher, accompanying the children to a picnic, and how he or she was supposed to know about the existence of an uncovered manhole in the park.
Terming the incident as “unfortunate”, the bench observed that the parents of the child are already suffering, and “now you want to ruin the family of the teacher booked in the case”.
It has fixed the matter for July 28, when it will pass an order in the issue.
The court had earlier directed the authorities to ensure that such incidents do not recur and had asked them to file an affidavit regarding the preventive measures.
( Source – PTI )
