Criminal negligence: Court orders police to register case against HESCO officials

Death by electrocution is an ‘act of God’, claims company’s lawyer

HYDERABAD: If any citizen dies due to electrocution caused by the supply system of a public utility, the death is an ‘act of God’, the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company’s (Hesco) lawyer, Babur Ali Kazmi, argued in court on Thursday.

“This application is not maintainable and [Hesco’s counsel] termed the incident as an act of God...” the district and session judge quoted the company’s statement in his order.

The reply came in an application for registration of an FIR against the officials of Hesco in a death due to electrocution on October 18. A family member of the deceased, Ghulam Mustafa Solangi, a rickshaw driver who was electrocuted outside a school in Latifabad, pleaded for lodging an FIR against Hesco officials.



“The most the bereaved family of the deceased can [do is] claim damages under the Fatal Accident Act but the officials of Hesco cannot be dragged into the criminal litigation,” Kazmi stated. However, the judge remained unconvinced by Hesco’s position and observed that “so prima facie this incident occurred due to their negligence and invites the cognisable offence(s) under Pakistan Penal Code”. The judge wrote in the order, “To term the incident of sheer human negligence as an act of God is unlikely and cannot be acknowledged.”

The court ordered the police to register an FIR on the complaint of the applicant, who maintained that the SHO had refused to lodge the case.

The applicant has cited Hesco’s chief executive officer, Asadullah Khan, and five other officers as respondents in the case.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 4^th, 2016.