Morbi, Rajkot Bar associations decide not to represent accused

Shubhadeep Choudhury

Morbi, November 2

The Morbi and Rajkot Bar associations today held a protest march, after passing a resolution not to fight cases for the accused in the bridge collapse tragedy.

Editorial: Why bridge collapsed

“This is a moral call. We won’t represent any accused in the bridge collapse case after the death of so many innocent persons,” a lawyer said. The association’s decision was opposed by lawyer Hamza Lakdawala, who said it was acting like a ‘khap’ panchayat.

Chief Judicial Magistrate MJ Khan has sent four of the accused — two managers of the OREVA Group and two sub-contractors who had repaired the bridge — to police custody till Saturday. The police had booked nine persons under IPC Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder).

Meanwhile, people continue to throng the tragedy site. Sumitaben, who came from Rajkot with her son in the hope of a selfie near the collapsed bridge, was shooed away by two policemen. She left grumbling. Sumitaben is not the only one treating the site as a tourist spot. A crowd gathered at the site where rescue teams on rafts were engaged in search operations.

TK Pandya, District Collector of Morbi, told The Tribune that the rescue teams were searching for a missing person.

“The police, fire brigade, National Disaster Response Force and Army are part of the search operations. We intend to continue the search for some more time,” he said.

Till now, 134 bodies of victims, who drowned in the Machchhu river on October 30 after more than 100-year-old bridge collapsed, have been recovered.

Dr Jeetendra, administrative officer at Morbi’s GMERS General Hospital where bodies of all victims were brought, said the tragedy struck around 6.30 pm on Sunday (October 30) and, within the next 12 hours, 132 bodies were recovered, including that of 40 children.

Two more bodies were recovered before noon the next day. Since then, no more body has been fished out of the river. Besides the 134 bodies recovered during the two days, one more person injured in the accident died at a private hospital, Dr Jeetendra said, adding that the toll stood at 135.

Curious onlookers gathered at the site today, however, refused to believe that the toll could be just 135. They accused the government of playing down the death figure.

People travelling via Morbi are stopping here to see the hanging bridge. Mahesana resident Ankit and his family made a detour to the accident site while heading for heading for a pilgrimage.