Court rejects bail plea of sculptor: ‘Knew consequences of using inferior quality material’

“Admittedly, the Work Order has been issued in favour of the contractor, i.e. the applicant (Apte) and after a few months of the erection of statue, it collapsed. It is the case of the prosecution that, the applicant has used inferior quality material, while carrying out the work in question and due to that, the statue collapsed. Considering the alleged facts and circumstances, it cannot lie in the mouth of the applicant that, he was not knowing the consequences of using inferior quality material, as per the allegations in the report,” the court said in its order.

Apte in his plea had said that he is a professional sculptor and there is nothing to show that the material used in the construction of the statue was inferior or the design was defective. Apte through his lawyers also submitted that a committee, which recently submitted a report on the incident, did not serve him any notice or give him an opportunity to put his side and hence it cannot be relied upon.

Apte also said that he was being made a scapegoat to save the real culprits.

The police opposed the bail claiming that the accused were aware that the statue was by the coast and used iron instead of stainless steal despite the possibility of rusting. The police also claimed that crores of public money was used for the constitution of the statue and that the accused had knowledge that if any untoward incident could also lead to loss of lives.

Apte had also submitted that the police could not have invoked sections pertaining to attempt to murder and attempt to culpable homicide in the case as there was no such intention.

The court said that in light of the allegations made by the police, it cannot be ruled out that the accused had knowledge. “In the light of the case of the prosecution, the presence of knowledge on the part of the applicant, being the contractor of the work in question, can not be ruled out at this stage,” the court said.