Almost three years after the Beas River Tragedy, Supreme Court held the state government of Himachal Pradesh responsible for the death of Hyderabad-based VNR Vignan Jyothi college students.
On June 8, 2014, twenty-four engineering students from VNR Vigyan Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology who were merrily taking photos got washed to death in just 27 seconds after hundreds of cusecs of water was discharged from Larji Hydro Power Project’s reservoir. The Apex court dismissed the petition filed by Himachal government regarding this incident.
Bench comprising of Justice N V Ramana held that students were killed due to government’s oversight. The Himachal government informed the court that the students did not oblige to the siren. The court questioned the state government as to how the students can hear siren when the water was released from a height.
The apex court upheld the High court’s judgement to compensate the families of each deceased with 25lakh rupees. It may be recalled that the Himachal government has previously challenged the High Court’s judgment on the death of students. The government asked for 6 months duration, while the Supreme court on Monday held that the money should be disbursed within three months.
