A girl who was nine when she lost her mother is 19 now. The court case to decide who is responsible for the death in a fire at AMRI Hospitals Dhakuria in south Kolkata is continuing.
The fire on December 9, 2011, which started in the basement of the hospital that allegedly lacked basic fire safety mechanisms, claimed 92 lives.
The girl is now a student at Visva-Bharati. She is pursuing drama as her mother had a passion for theatre. In these 10 years she has not been able to overcome the grief and shock, said the teenager’s father, Subhasish Chakraborty.
Raja Ganguly’s daughter, Jahanavi, was in Class VI when her grandfather died in the hospital fire. Jahanavi is now a postgraduate student in Mumbai.
Ten long years since the fire at AMRI Dhakuria, the scars have not healed and closure has not yet been delivered to the families, some of them said on Thursday.
“I am gradually starting to lose hope. I don’t know how long it will take to pronounce a verdict in this case,” said Paromita Guha Thakurta, who lost her mother. “Why can’t there be a deadline by when an order should be pronounced? …I was 38 when I lost my mother. I am 48 now. With time, my ability to run around for justice is getting diminished,” she said.
“My daughter still speaks about her mother…. Her brother was two-and-a-half then. He barely remembers her,” Chakraborty said on Thursday.
The kin of some of the victims held a small prayer for the departed at the AMRI Memorial at Rabindra Sarobar on Thursday afternoon. They went to AMRI Hospitals Dhakuria and lit candles outside the building where the fire had broken out and distributed shawls to the poor.
Amid the reminiscences, everyone wanted a speedy trial in court.
The AMRI case is being heard by the third additional district judge of South 24-Parganas. At present the doctor who had conducted the post-mortem of the victims is being examined in the court.
The public prosecutor is examining the doctor. This will be followed by cross-examination by defence lawyers.
“The examination of about 65 post-mortem reports has been done. Once the examination of the doctor ends, we will examine the injured, who were witnesses. Then we will examine the family members of the victims. It is a lengthy process but we are trying our best,” said public prosecutor Sakti Bhattacharya.
A defence lawyer said the post-mortem reports of all 92 victims would be examined and cross-examined.
There are over 400 witnesses in the case and the doctor being examined now is only the seventh, said a defence lawyer. “All the 400-odd witnesses may not be examined. How many will be examined is the prerogative of the prosecution,” said the defence lawyer.
The person who lodged the complaint based on which the police started a probe and filed the chargesheet in court has passed away.
The last time the matter was heard was November 30. The next hearing is on January 10. “There should be more frequent hearings to expedite the progress of the matter,” said Paromita.
This newspaper reached out to the AMRI authorities for their views but they did not comment.
