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HC notice to state on plea over Fatehveer’s death

CHANDIGARH: Just about a week after two-year-old Fatehveer Singh’s body was pulled out of an uncovered 150-foot-deep borewell, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday issued a notice of motion to the state on a petition filed in public interest alleging casual approach leading to the death of the child.

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 17

Just about a week after two-year-old Fatehveer Singh’s body was pulled out of an uncovered 150-foot-deep borewell, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday issued a notice of motion to the state on a petition filed in public interest alleging casual approach leading to the death of the child.

Taking up the matter, the vacation bench of Justice Anupinder Singh Grewal and Justice Harnaresh Singh Gill also fixed July 3 as the next date of hearing.

Seeking directions for formulating a policy on the procedure to be adopted while digging and necessary precautions to be taken to prevent untoward incidents in future, petitioner Parminder Singh Sekhon had claimed that the first 10 hours of the incident were wasted by the local administration due to the lack of guidance or absence of policy required to be followed.

He said a “very casual approach” was displayed towards the incident, resulting in the child’s death. As such, responsibility was also required to be fixed of all erring officers not performing their duties effectively to save a human life.

The petitioner also submitted that the adoption of “better measures” could have saved the child’s life. Elaborating, he stated the developments that took place in Sangrur showed not only “inadequate preparedness on the part of the authorities, but also lack of respect for life”.

Seeking “necessary directions” for calling a status report on “all five days in which the child, Fatehveer, was stuck in the borewell”, the petitioner also sought directionsto the respondents to apprise the court on “how the rescue operation got delayed by almost 12 hours in spite of the fact that the entire social media was circulating the news”.

Directions were also sought for the issuance of order to the respondents to maintain law and order in Sangrur district on the ground that the child’s death had turned into an emotional issue. “Fatehveer was not rescued in time and, thus, the people have taken law into their hands to agitate against the unpreparedness of the authorities,” he added.

Counsel for the petitioner Bikramjeet Singh Bajwa and Laghuinder Singh Sekhon also sought adequate compensation for the grieving family, who lost their only son “dueto the mismanagement and negligence of the district administration, which acted very late”.

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