Mumbai Floods: PIL Filed In Bombay HC Seeking FIR Against Municipal Commissioner, Other Officials For Causing Doctor’s Death [Read Petition]

A public interest litigation filed by the Retail Traders Welfare Association has sought criminal prosecution against officials of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai for causing the death of Dr. Deepak Amrapurkar due to their negligence.

Dr.Amrapurkar was a 58-year-old gastroenterologist working at Bombay Hospital. He left for his home from work on August 29 (day of the deluge) after his wife, Dr. Anjali Amrapurkar, told him that he should leave early due to traffic caused by heavy rainfall and waterlogging.

After covering some distance in his car, Dr. Amrapurkar called his wife at 7:45 pm and later decided to walk the rest of the way as the traffic was barely moving due to heavy waterlogging.

After 2 hours passed, Anjali called the driver only to find out that her husband had decided to walk the rest of the way. With no trace of Dr. Amrapurkar, fear of him falling in an open manhole near his house at Prabhadevi grew. A complaint was filed with the police and the fire brigade was contacted.

Thirty-six hours later, on Wednesday morning, Dr. Amrapurkar’s body was found near a drain opening at Worli shore.

As rainfall subsides, the total death toll confirmed so far is five and 12 are reported to be missing.

In light of this, the petition seeks directions to the Commissioner of Police, who is one of the respondents, to register an FIR for criminal negligence under Section 304 A of the IPC against Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta and other municipal officers.

The petitioner has sought the formation of an advisory committee of ‘renowned ex-bureaucrats and technocrats’ for carrying out a detailed inspection of all the manholes currently existing in the City of Mumbai so that they can suggest ways and means for streamlining the working and operations of the manholes.

It is also stated in the PIL that although BMC is the richest municipal body in Asia, it acted in a negligent and irresponsible manner due to which death traps like manholes are left open on the road.

A direction is sought to the Municipal Corporation to pay a Rs.50 lakhsto any NGO that is working for the city of Mumbai.

Finally, the PIL seeks installation of an iron grill on all drainage systems/manholes of the city immediately so that no such deaths are caused.

This matter will be mentioned before the bench headed by Chief Justice Manjula Chellur on Friday.