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Journalism of Courage
Some justice. That about sums up the public response to the judgement given by the Delhi High Court in the Uphaar fire case. There are several reasons why this particular case transcends location. This is not just a Delhi case but one that should involve every city authority and citizen because at its heart is the central issue of public safety. Not only does it attempt to fix responsibility when fairly commonplace, and often deeply tragic, incidents like a fire in a public space break out, it goes some way in evolving a punitive regime that can punish those responsible. The idea of such punishment is not just to compensate for loss of life and grievous injury8212;money cannot really do this8212;but to ensure to the extent possible that the authorities take the necessary action to prevent its recurrence.
At another level, it is a fight against forgetting. The concerted fashion in which relatives of the victims, from different social backgrounds, fought this case unitedly is inspiring. It was their personal pain that gave them the strength and courage to do this and they deserve our respect and gratitude. Their example, hopefully, will inspire other citizen8217;s bodies to keep chipping away at an apathetic and recalcitrant system. Indeed, the judges wished to convey their strongest disapproval of the 8216;8216;chalta hai attitude8217;8217; that is the enemy of public safety. The message that emanates from their judgement is that such safety is non-negotiable. By pinning responsibility, not just on the theatre owner, but on the police licensing authority which overlooked violations of by-laws, the municipal authorities for faulty construction and the electricity department for installing a hazardous transformer and for poor monitoring, the judges wished to convey the joint nature of culpability. State regulators must do their jobs autonomously rather than kowtow to powerful interests looking for ways to short change the system. The theatre owners, of course, bear the major share of the responsibility and the mess they are in underlines that private enterprise cannot afford to compromise on basic standards.
