Year after year, we see reports of boat tragedies caused by overloading of boats and absence of safety measures. Yet, the same mistakes are committed again and again. That’s because, we pay no attention to safety and even equate foolhardiness with bravery.

I am talking about the Wular lake tragedy. From what one can see from newspaper reports, a bus load of school children visiting the lake, about 70 km from Srinagar, wanted a joyride. The children, all said to be below 10 years of age, were accompanied by two teachers, who requested a sailor to take them. The sailor obliged and took them on an assault boat, which capsized while taking a sharp turn, resulting in the death of 21 children.

What is most shocking is that the teachers and the sailor should so casually take such young children on a boat ride, without safety precautions. The reports say that 37 people (33 of them children) were on the boat that had a capacity of 16. Overloading has been the cause of many a boat tragedy in our country. Yet, we do not seem to bother about this basic safety precaution that a boat should not be overloaded. And then, there are no life jackets, life buoys.

This tragedy reminds me of the case of Wg Cdr P.S. Sandhu vs Union of India , where the apex consumer court held the Army authorities who ran the Boat Club at Barapani lake near Shillong, guilty of negligence for failing to provide safety measures like life jackets, life buoys, qualified life guards and first aid facilities. Wg Cdr Sandhu and his colleagues had gone on a picnic to the boat club along with their family members. After sailing for about a kilometre and a half from the shore, the boat had suddenly capsized as a result of overloading. The accident had resulted in the untimely death of four passengers ? Wg Cdr Sandhu’s wife Guddi Sandhu, Wg Cdr Kapoor and his two minor daughters.

Here, the Army authorities argued the boat ride was free and therefore outside the purview of the consumer courts. The complainant, however, said he had himself made advance payment towards boating charges ? he’d paid Rs 95 to the Havaldar who was present at the Boat Club, calculating the charges at the rate of Rs 5 per head.

In so far as the Wular lake tragedy is concerned, it does seem that the boat ride was free. If it was so, then the parents cannot file a case against the Indian Navy (under the Consumer Protection Act), but they can certainly file a case against the school. It was sheer negligence on the part of the teachers to have taken the young children on that boat ride and the school must pay for this negligence.