INDORE, Nov 28: The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Tuesday sought response from the state government and the trust managing the Beleshwar Mahadev Jhulelal temple here in response to a Public Interest Litigation demanding that the liability of all those responsible for the tragedy at the temple which claimed 36 lives must be fixed.
A bench of Justices Vivek Rusia and Anil Verma directed the government to submit a status report of the police inquiry into the incident, magisterial probe and the charge sheet in the case.
The floor of the temple, constructed over a stepwell, gave way on March 30, 2023, plunging those gathered inside for Ram Navami puja into the well below. As many as 21 women, 13 men and two children died.
The PIL, filed by former Indore councillor Mahesh Garg, claimed that the temple had been built on the `bawadi’ (stepwell) illegally. It sought that the responsibility of all the culprits be fixed, and guidelines be issued to prevent recurrence of such accidents.
The petition also sought a Central Bureau of Investigation probe and made CBI one of the respondents, but the division bench said it found no grounds to issue a notice to the central agency at this stage.
Advocate Manish Yadav, the petitioner’s lawyer, alleged that the probe was lax and slow.
When the government’s lawyer told the court that compensation was provided to the families of the victims, the judges asked why it should be paid from the government coffers and whether the compensation amount was recovered from the trust which managed the temple.
The next date of hearing is January 15, 2024.
Following the incident, a First Information Report was registered against Beleshwar Mahadev Jhulelal Temple Trust president Sevaram Galani and secretary Murli Kumar Sabnani under Indian Penal Code section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), the government lawyer informed.
The administration subsequently shifted the idols in the temple to other temples and demolished the structure citing safety reasons. (PTI)
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