10 jailed for India school fire that claimed 94 children

By -
Ten persons have been jailed for India school fire that killed 94 children, report said on Wednesday.
Judge Mohamed Ali, sentenced the owner of the school, Pulavar Palanichamy to life imprisonment, the report said.
Seven members of the school management including Palanichamy's wife and the school headmistress, were jailed 10 years each.
Two other accused were sentenced to five years in jail.
The court found them guilty of charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and imposed a fine of 85,000 dollars.
In July 2004, a fire broke out in the school's kitchen and spread, trapping many children in the fire.
The victims were all under nine years old, local media reported.
Investigations found that basic fire safety rules were ignored.
There were no fire extinguishers and the school that had 900 students had only one exit, according report.
The outrage prompted the state authorities to order a probe which found that local officials had colluded with the school's management to give it licences.
There were a total of 21 accused in the case. Eleven others including three teachers were acquitted by the court.
Families of the victims were however disappointed with the verdict.
``The guilty should have been given life-terms. We will appeal this verdict in a higher court,’’ a relative told journalists.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

UBTH @50: Obaseki hails institution’s role in strengthening Edo healthcare

By -
Image
(Nigeria) Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, has commended the staff and management of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, UBTH, for their unwavering commitment, dedication, and hard work in providing high-quality healthcare services to the people of Edo State and Nigeria in the past fifty years. Obaseki, at a dinner organized in honour of the Committee of Chief Medical Directors of Nigeria, at the Government House, Benin City, reassured the government’s continuous partnership and collaboration with the federal government-owned health institution to strengthen the health system and ensure quality health delivery to Edo people. The governor, who was represented by his deputy, Philip Shaibu, reeled out the gains of the government’s reforms in the health sector, commending the medical centre for bolstering the government’s efforts at transforming Edo State into a health hub. He said, "We came into a wilderness where you have to cut a part for yourself and fix it. We held
Read more

NBC has no powers to impose fine on broadcast stations --Court

By -
Image
(Nigeria) The National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, has been restrained by a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, from imposing fines on broadcast stations in the country. Trial judge in the matter, Justice James Omotosho also set aside the N500,000 fines imposed on March 1, 2019, on each of 45 broadcast stations. The court made the orders in its judgment a suit by the Incorporated Trustees of Media Rights Agenda, MRA, which had sued the NBC. Justice Omotosho held that the NBC, not being a court of law, had no power to impose sanctions as punishment on broadcast stations. The court further held that the Nigeria Broadcasting Code, which gives the commission the power to impose sanction, is in conflict with Section 6 of the Constitution that vested judicial power in the court of law. He said the court would not sit idle and watch a body imposing fine arbitrarily without recourse to the law. He said that the commission did not comply with the law when it sat as a complainant and at
Read more