Mumbai: Nine named in writ, only one named in FIR

Sasmira’s Institute of Management Studies and Research. Pic/Ashish Raje

A WRIT petition filed in connection with the Sasmira's Institute of Management Studies and Research burn incident has named nine people responsible for the tragedy, but the Worli police have registered an FIR only against one person and spared the others. The husband of one of the deceased told mid-day that the employees were not provided with safety equipment at the time of work, and that the machine - responsible for the glycerine spill - was in need of repair.

The Worli police took action after being pulled up by the High Court for not registering an FIR against the Sasmira institute for failure to provide safety equipment to the employees which led to the death of two people last year. "I lost my wife last year as she had not been provided with safety equipment by the institute. The Worli police had filed an Accidental Death Report (ADR) in this matter. However, I filed a writ petition in the Bombay High Court and after a couple of hearings the HC reprimanded the Worli police for not registering an FIR in this matter. The police then swung into action and registered an FIR," said Advocate Amar Gharte, husband of Shraddha Shinde who lost her life due to the incident.

Employees at the institute were allegedly not given safety gear. Pic/Ashish Raje

Speaking with mid-day, Gharte said that he was not satisfied with only one name being listed in the FIR. "When a writ petition was filed in the court we had mentioned nine names in it. However, when the police took action they registered an FIR only against the lab in-charge. She's not the only one responsible. The institute's criminal negligence led to the death of my wife and her colleague, so why did the police spare them? The next hearing is scheduled for Wednesday. I am going to plead to the High Court to add other names to the FIR," Gharte said.

mid-day had accessed the writ petition, in which names of the president, vice president, joint director, quality manager, senior technical assistant and ex-director's names have been mentioned. According to the writ petition, Shraddha sustained 40 per cent burns and Prajakta Ghume sustained 70 per cent burns, while two other individuals sustained 19 per cent and 12 per cent burns, respectively. The petition mentions that the employees were not provided with proper safety gear.

The two injured employees were discharged 15 days after the incident, but Prajakta succumbed on December 6, 2022, and Shraddha on December 11, 2022. According to the petition, the petitioner had intended to register an FIR but the Worli police "deliberately" delayed the process.

mid-day spoke to one of the employees who survived the incident. "It was a usual day and five of us were present in the laboratory. We were doing our work and suddenly Rajiv sir said that the machine had some fault and asked Prajakta to shut it down. However, Prajakta poured some water and hot glycerine spilt all over. Initially, I was taken to Jaslok hospital and then to the National Burns Centre in Airoli. The doctors declared that I had 14 per cent burns on my hands, chest and some parts of the face."

mid-day spoke to Senior Police Inspector Ravindra Katkar of Worli police, "After a thorough investigation we registered an FIR against the lab in-charge Leena Mhatre as it is alleged that she was not present in the lab when the incident took place and it was her duty to see whether the staff wore safety equipment but she failed in her duty." Mhatre, 53, has been booked by the Worli police station under Section 304-A (death by negligence). Further investigations are underway.