Deonar dumping ground fire: Court acquits 17 people for lack of evidence

In April 2016, a fire in the dumping ground had caused smog to spread in many parts of the city, leading then Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to order an inquiry.

The Shivaji Nagar police had lodged an FIR following a complaint filed by a civic body official, resulting in the arrest of 17 people under sections 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life), 285 (negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible matter), 435 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to cause damage), 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house), 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others), and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.

The charges attracted a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. The accused included labourers and scrap collectors, among others.

The accused, through their lawyers, including Amin Solkar and Wahab Khan, had denied the charges. Some had claimed that they were picked up though they had no connection with the dumping ground and were falsely implicated.

During trial, the prosecution examined 12 witnesses, including civic officials.

The complainant in the case, a BMC security official, told the court that names of scrap dealers residing near the dumping ground were given to the police but he does not remember them specifically.

Other BMC officials said in their testimony that highly inflammable methane gas would be produced due to the decomposing waste, leading to fires at regular intervals at the dumping ground, which were doused by them. Further, the officials said that fires were caused at the dumping ground by the heat.

Five witnesses, who were scrap collectors, dealers and local residents, were also examined. They were declared hostile after they denied that their statements matched with what they had told the police. They claimed that they did not know how the fire had begun or that fires were caused in decomposing waste regularly, causing pollution.

“We had maintained that the police picked us up for no reason and implicated us in this case when even it was said in the chargesheet that the fire was caused due to methane gas. The case put a financial strain on my family. I had to shell out money for legal fees, my work suffered losses. The three months and 10 days we spent in jail before being granted bail in 2016 were the most traumatic in our lives,” one of the accused told The Indian Express after the acquittal.

A separate case under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act was filed in connection to the case, which alleged that two of the accused, brothers Atiq Khan and Rafiq Khan, were running a gang in the vicinity of the dumping ground. The trial is underway in the case.