JOIN US‘Disturbing’: HC takes suo moto action in Kerala boat case
The Kerala High Court has taken suo-moto action in the Tanur boat tragedy case, which resulted in the death of 22 people, while the police pressed murder charges against the accused.
The tragedy has also brought to focus the blatant violation of safety norms by tourist boats across Kerala and hence a state-wide crackdown is likely to be initiated by the government soon.
Malappuram district police chief S Sujith Das said that the boat owner and operators knew that a mishap could lead to deaths and hence murder charge under IPC 302 was invoked.
While the boat owner Nazar was arrested on Monday, the boat driver Dinesh and other workers were still absconding.
The Kerala High Court that suo moto took up the matter suggested that compensation to victims should be recovered from officials who were responsible for the incident. Such incidents were recurring owing to negligence on the part of authorities in proper enforcement of norms and the people were finally suffering. The lifeless bodies of 22 people, especially many children, were very disturbing, the bench comprising Justice Devan Ramachandran and Justice Shoba Annamma Eapen observed. The case has been posted to May 12.
Unsafe boat operations
Amid allegations that the Tanur accident took place as the enforcement agencies failed to take action on complaints regarding the unsafe boat operations, a series of reports of unsafe boat operations at many tourist spots in the state have emerged now. Some boats packed with tourists on the top deck and hardly anyone wearing jackets has also emerged.
Kerala ports minister Ahammad Devarkovil will hold a meeting of the officials concerned on Wednesday to discuss the issue.
A government official said that the state was literally lacking a monitoring agency for the boat operations. Various agencies, including the transport and tourism departments, are operating boats. But there was no effective monitoring mechanism to check violations, said the official.