The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has come under fire after its lawyer, during a court hearing into a 40-hour traffic jam on the Indore-Dewas highway that killed three, questioned why “people even leave home so early without any work”.

The remark, made during a hearing in the Madhya Pradesh High Court on Monday, has triggered widespread criticism, with families of the victims calling it not only insensitive but deeply offensive, NDTV reported.

The jam, which began last Friday, left over 4,000 vehicles stranded along an 8-kilometre stretch. Three people lost their lives, reportedly due to exhaustion and lack of medical access. Among them was 62-year-old Kamal Panchal from Indore, who died of a heart attack after being stuck for over an hour in stifling heat.

Balram Patel (55) of Shujalpur and Sandeep Patel (32) from Gari Pipalya also died under similar circumstances.

“My uncle was dying in front of us and we were trying to get him help,” said Sumit Patel, Balram’s nephew. “No one roams the streets for fun. Maybe if someone from NHAI was stuck there with us, they’d understand what we went through.”

The tragedy prompted Dewas-based advocate Anand Adhikari, himself stuck in the same traffic, to file a Public Interest Litigation (PIL).

A division bench of Justices Vivek Rusia and Binod Kumar Dwivedi took up the matter and issued notices to multiple authorities, including the NHAI (Delhi and Indore), ministry of road transport and highways, the Indore collector, police commissioner, road construction company and Indore Dewas Tollways Ltd.

The court noted it had already directed in September that a diversion road be completed within four weeks — an order that remains unfulfilled.

NHAI cited a recent 10-day strike by crusher units as a cause for delay, but the court appeared unconvinced, questioning the sluggish pace and lack of contingency.

“The diversion road was to be ready in four weeks. Why hasn’t it been completed yet?” the bench asked.

Senior advocate Girish Patwardhan, representing the petitioner, confirmed that the court has sought responses from all parties within a week. “The NHAI has also been instructed to issue notices to both the road contractor and the toll operator,” he said.

Patwardhan also confirmed the controversial courtroom remark by the NHAI counsel. “The Honourable Court immediately dismissed that line of reasoning. If such logic were to be accepted, no one in this country could safely step outside.”

Indore collector Ashish Singh conducted a field inspection and reported that the service road, built as a stopgap by NHAI, was not sturdy enough for heavy vehicles and gave way, triggering the massive gridlock.

The court has set July 7 as the next date of hearing.