Gujarat TRP Game Zone Fire: Supreme Court Grants Bail To Ex-Rajkot District Chief Fire Officer

The Supreme Court today(July 15) granted bail to Ileshkumar Valabhai Kher, who was the district Chief Fire Officer, when the TRP Game Zone Fire incident  took place wherein twenty-seven individuals, including four children, perished in the massive fire that engulfed the game zone in Rajkot's Nana-Mava locality on May 25, 2024.

The Court orally said that the responsibility of the Chief Fire Officer in this case was "extremely remote" and observed in its order that the Appellant has been granted bail, considering that he has suffered one year of incarceration and that there is no possibility of the trial commencing in the near future. 

A bench comprising Justice Manoj Misra and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan set aside the January 30 order of the Gujarat High Court denying bail to Kher.

"This appeal arises from the order of the Gujarat High Court rejecting the bail prayer of the applicant in connection with the FIR no...An unfortunate fire incident occurred at a gaming zone, resulting in the death of 27 persons and injuring several others. A detailed investigation was carried out, and the chargesheet was filed against several accused, citing 365 witnesses. The appellant herein is the district Chief Fire Officer, who has been indicted alleging that he failed to perform his duties to prevent such fire incidents when the law required he had to be vigilant and ensure that proper prevention safety measures are in place where such activities is to take place. The culpability of the appellant is highlighted by the fact that a similar fire incident has occurred, though not of such magnitude, on 4.9.2023 and therefore, the present fire incident was a repeat act. 

The fresh bail prayer, the learned counsel for the appellant submitted, that in the worst case, this case would be of negligence in performance of his duties and the charge would under no circumstances would travel to culpable homicide not amounting to murder. It was submitted that the appellant has already suffered incarceration of over a year and 365 witnesses are to be examined in the trial, there is no possibility of the completion of the trial in the near future. In such circumstances, it is prayed that he may be released on bail. It is also submitted that the appellant is a person with clean antecedents and there is no possibility that he would misuse the liberty. 

The learned counsel for Respondent submitted that there is a case where there has been a delerection of duties not once but twice and since the activity was carried at such a large scale, the law required the appellant to carry out inspections and stop the activities in the absence of fire satefy measures. Such circumstances, what offence would be made out against the appellant depend upon the trial and therefore, it would not be appropriate to observe on the merits of the charges.

Having regards to the facts of the fact and also that the appellant was in his supervisory capacity as the chief fire officer and has been in jail for a period exceeding 1 year, with there being remote possibility of the trial to commence in near future, we are of the view that the appellant is entitled to be released on bail pending trial. Appeal is allowed and the bail rejecting order...is set aside..."

Appearing for the State of Gujarat, Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju had opposed the bail plea. He submitted that this was the second time the fire occurred in the TRP game zone. In 2023, a fire occurred on account of welding activities, and he had not taken preventive steps for safety. Therefore, there has been a dereliction of duty by the petitioner. 

Further, Raju said that there is a PIL before the Gujarat High Court regarding fire incidents, wherein in the judgment, there was an undertaking that he would inspect all buildings, temporary or otherwise, and also would consider the safety and fire angle, if any.

On this, Justice Misra responded that the State can file a contempt against the violation of the undertaking, but there is no point in denying him bail, especially when there is possibility of trial commencing soon. He said: "You can proceed under the contempt for violation of the undertaking but that is not the ground for criminalising him."

ASG Raju then requested the court for the bail order not to be considered as a precedent. To this, Justice Misra replied that bail orders are never treated as precedent, unless parity with other accused is claimed. "You can never argue that bail orders are treated as precedents," Justice Misra told ASG Raju.

The Gujarat High Court granted bail to Rajeshbhai Narsinhbhai Makwana, assistant town planning officer; Jaydipbhai Balubhai Choudhary, assistant engineer, and Gautam Devshankar Joshi, assistant town planning officer at the time.