High Court Takes Suo Moto Cognizance Of Vadodara's Boat Capsize Tragedy, Calls For State's Action Taken Report By Jan 29

The Gujarat High Court on Friday took suo moto cognizance of the January 18 boat capsize incident in the Vadodara district. The incident resulted in the loss of 16 lives, including 12 children and two teachers who were on a picnic.

A bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Aniruddha P. Mayee called for an action taken report on the matter from the Secretary, Home Department, State of Gujarat along with an affidavit of the Gazetted Officer from the Home Department, Government of Gujarat, by January 29.

The order was passed after the President of the Gujarat High Court Advocates' Association, Brijesh Trivedi mentioned the matter before the Court while referring to news items about the tragedy.

Calling the newspaper items, which reported that there was complete flouting of the safety norms as the children on the boat had not even been provided life jackets as "disturbing", the Court orally observed 'this type of recklessness cannot be tolerated'.

“This is the most tragic incident…This can be curbed very easily, this can be managed very easily if you are following safety norms you can always avoid such incidents...This is not to be tolerated at all,” Chief Justice Agarwal orally observed on Friday.

The reason behind the incident at Harni Lake in Vadodara remains unclear. Local authorities have reported that approximately 27 individuals were on the boat during the incident.

Talking to the media, Police Commissioner Anupam Singh Gehlot said that up to seven people have been successfully rescued and are currently receiving medical attention at a nearby hospital. Reportedly, the victims were not equipped with life jackets during the boat ride.

Gujarat CM Bhupendra Rajnikant Patel has already handed over the high-level probe of the incident to the Vadodara District Magistrate. The detailed report has been sought within 10 days.

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