Maharashtra: 10 years on, Thane building collapse victims still waiting for justice

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Ten years after a building collapse in Mumbra area of Maharashtra's Thane district claimed lives of 74 people and left more than 60 others injured, the victims and their families are still awaiting justice.

The 'Adarsh' building located at Lucky Compound in Mumbra township crashed on April 4, 2013 following which 27 people, including senior civic officials, middlemen, builders, contractors, a corporator and a policeman, were named as accused in the case. They were arrested and later granted bail.

The next hearing in the case is coincidentally on April 4.

The accused in the case are facing charges under Indian Penal Code Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 336, 337, 338 (all pertaining to act done rashly or negligently so as to endanger human life or the personal safety others), 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention), as well as provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Eighteen children were among the 74 people killed in the building collapse. The residents of the building included construction workers and their families.

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The Bombay High Court had in 2015 asked a Thane court to conclude the trial in the case in 18 months, but the hearing in the case is still on.

After the building collapsed, local authorities had said the structure was under construction and did not have an 'occupancy certificate'.

A witness, Mangal S Patil, had told a Thane court that the building, constructed by Jamil Qureshi, Salim Shaikh and their partners, was built hurriedly and was of poor qaulity.

He told the court that he had written several letters to the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) against illegal construction in the area, and blamed some of the then civic officials for inaction.

Patil deposed that the builders and TMC officials connived to carry out the building's construction and let people occupy it even before its completion in order to save it from demolition.

The prosecution had filed a charge sheet running into thousands of pages.

Of the more than 500 witnesses cited in the case, only 52 have been examined so far by the prosecution, a source said.

Special Public Prosecutor Shishir Hirey had sought a special court to conduct day-to-day hearing in the case, but it has not happened.

Hirey had also urged the court to try all the accused under IPC Section 302 (murder), in view of the severity of the incident.

He had told the court that the accused played with the lives of the innocent citizens for which they need to face action.

Hirey had during the case hearings alleged there was a 'nexus' between the builders and civic officials in the mushrooming unauthorised constructions in Mumbra and adjoining areas.

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