Mumbai: Court rejects bail of Virar hospital fire accused

By LE Desk

Mumbai, May 1: The Vasai sessions court on Friday rejected the bail pleas of Dr Dilip Bastimal Shah and Dr Shailesh Dharamdev Pathak, the chief executive officer and the chief administrative officer of Virar’s Vijay Vallabh hospital, respectively, who have been arrested after a fire on April 23 led to the death of 15 Covid-19 patients in the ICU ward.

The court rejected their bail applications as investigating officer, Inspector Pramod Badakh from the Mira-Bhayandar Vasai-Virar Police Crime Branch, opposed their pleas citing a Supreme Court order and investigations that showed that the accused had not followed fire safety measures, The Indian Express reported.

Last December, the SC had directed all states to carry out fire safety audits of dedicated Covid-19 hospitals. It had also directed the dedicated hospitals to seek a no objection certificate from the fire department within four weeks and said that failure to do so will invite punitive action.

However, the Vijay Vallabh hospital authorities had misplaced their Form B – a certificate issued twice a year by a private licensed agency following compliance of fire prevention and life safety measures by the hospital.

It’s the duty of the hospital owner to furnish this certificate to the fire brigade, which then conducts random inspection to find out if the measures are in place or not.

https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/mumbai-court-rejects-bail-of-virar-hospital-fire-accused-7297437/