The Bombay high court recently granted bail to a contractor arrested in connection with a building collapse in Mumbra that killed 74 persons. The court granted him bail on the ground that other accused charged with more grievous charge in the same case have already been granted bail and prosecution arguments that the applicant was absconding from the day of incident till his arrest is not a conclusive evidence of his guilt.
Laxman Dhajaji alias Damu Rathod had applied for bail through advocate Pankaj Parway saying that the Sheel Daighar police has filed chargesheet against 27 accused in this case and of them 24, including the builder, the officers of Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) and other related accused persons have been released on bail.
The prosecution’s case is that an unauthorised building was constructed without permission of TMC. The eight-storey building collapsed on April 4, 2013, causing the death of 74 persons and injuring 62 others.
According to the police, the applicant was the contractor of that building and he did not adopt the appropriate technique which affected the building’s strength.
The prosecution opposed the bail saying the role played by the other accused persons who have been already released on bail differs from the role attributed to Rathod. The public prosecutor also stressed that the applicant went absconding for more than a year till he was arrested on June 17, 2014, and this act of absconding denotes his guilty mind in the present crime.
Justice A.S. Gadkar however observed, “It is the well settled position of law that absconding may lend weight to the other evidence before the guilt of an accused, but by itself is hardly any evidence of guilt.” The judge further said, “The conduct of an accused making himself scarce for some period is relevant under the Evidence Act and may be indicative to some extent of a guilty mind, but it would not be a conclusive evidence of his guilt. Even an innocent person may, when suspected of a grave crime attempt to evade arrest. Such is the instinct of preservation in an average human being.”
“Absconding is a weak link in the chain of circumstances and is not conclusive either of guilt or a guilty conscious and it by itself does not establish the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt,” observed the judge while granting bail to Rathod on personal bond of Rs 2 lakh with two sureties of same amount. The judge also directed him to deposit Rs 7,50,000 in the trial court within a period of 60 days from his actual release from jail. “The said amount shall be subject to such orders as the trial court may pass at the conclusion of the trial,” added Justice Gadkari.
