NEW DELHI: Katra court on Saturday refused to order criminal proceedings against officials of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board in connection with the August 26 landslide that killed 35 pilgrims, concluding that the incident stemmed from natural causes rather than prosecutable negligence.The court, however, made it clear that its order would not affect the separate inquiry ordered by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha three days after the incident to examine the circumstances leading to the deaths.The court underlined that criminal liability under Section 106 requires proof of gross negligence or rashness, foreseeability of harm and a direct causal link between the act or omission and the deaths. “Mere error of judgment or an administrative lapse does not suffice,” it said, while also ruling out culpable homicide on the grounds that the complaint itself alleged negligence, not intent.The plea had alleged that shrine board officials, including the chief executive officer, acted negligently by allowing the pilgrimage to continue despite weather advisories issued by the Meteorological Centre in Srinagar and the Jammu and Kashmir Disaster Management Authority. According to the complainant, the failure to suspend the yatra amounted to criminal negligence and warranted the registration of an FIR under Sections 105 and 106 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, dealing with culpable homicide not amounting to murder and causing death by rash or negligent acts. Dismissing the plea, Sub-Judge (Judicial Magistrate First Class) Katra, Sidhant Vaid, said the material placed before the court showed that the “proximate and immediate cause” of the incident was a natural calamity. The judge observed that even if the allegations in the complaint were assumed to be true, non-compliance with weather advisories would at best amount to an administrative lapse and did not disclose any element of criminal negligence.
