FIR filed against firemen for negligence as 2 die in blaze

GURUGRAM: Officials of Sohna fire station were booked on Wednesday for culpable homicide following allegations of negligence leading to the death of two people in a blaze that broke out in a two-storey house in Sohna market off Old Delhi-Alwar Road on May 17.
A carpenter — Nain Singh — who was working in the house was burnt alive while the house owner’s wife Suman Madan died after the roof of a room fell on her after the fire broke out. The woman’s brother-in-law suffered burn injuries while he was trying to rescue her. He is still undergoing treatment in hospital.

Locals and families of victims had blamed the firemen of negligence. They said if the fire tender had been working properly, the fire could have been doused in time and if the firemen had judged the danger of the situation, they could have sought more help much earlier.

It took nearly three hours for the fire brigade to douse the fire and retrieve bodies from under the debris. A fire tender from Sohna was the first to reach the scene but low pressure in its water pipe hindered efforts of the firemen. Later, three fire engines from Gurugram, Nuh and Taouru were brought in to tackle the situation.

The house was completely damaged and documents, jewellery and cash inside the house were charred in the fire. The fire broke out around 2pm last Thursday. Firemen could not bring the blaze under control owing to the defective fire tender. Cops also reached the spot, and the authorities snapped the power supply to the area for hours. Hundreds of locals gathered and joined the fire depts to douse the fire.

Residents in the area had complained to the sub divisional magistrate about defective fire tender on the same day. Police registered a case of negligence on Tuesday after Krishan Madan, brother-in-law of the woman who died in the blaze filed a complaint in the Sohna city police station. “The fire officials are responsible for two deaths.We want strict action against these fire officials to ensure that it won’t recur,” Madan alleged in his complaint.

Former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda visited the families of victims on Wednesday to pay condolences. “This was the result of negligence shown by the fire brigade,” he said.

Based on the complaint, an FIR was registered against “unidentified fire officials” under sections 304 (culpable homicide) of IPC at the Sohna city police station. Police, however, didn’t reveal the identities of fire officials who were booked.

“An FIR has been registered and we are verifying the role of fire officials. An action will be taken as per the law,” said Birem Singh Poswal, assistant commissioner of police, Sohna. The fire department and its officials said it was unfortunate that the first fire engine got defective during the operation.

“I reached the spot with my team after receiving information about the fire. People had gathered there. The fire tender got defective.We immediately informed our Gurugram head fire office and two fire engines were sent to the spot,” said in-charge of Sohna fire station.

Satywan Samirwal, senior fire officer (Gurugram), said a report was sent to the head office in Chandigarh.