Kerala HC initiates suo motu PIL; police slaps murder charges against boat owner

Kochi/Malappuram: The Kerala High Court on Tuesday swung into action by initiating a PIL on its own to probe into the violation of rules that led to the Tanur boat accident, while the state police has invoked murder charges against the owner of the vessel that capsized.

Twenty two people, including women and children, were killed when a houseboat carrying over 30 passengers overturned and sank near the Thooval theeram beach in Tanur area of Malappuram district on Sunday.

Under attack from various quarters, including the opposition, the Kerala government also strengthened the investigation into the accident by booking the owner of the boat for murder.

Initiating the PIL, the High Court directed the District Collector, Malappuram, to file a report into the incident that occurred near an estuary in the Tanur area of Malappuram district.

A vacation bench of Justices Devan Ramachandran and Shoba Annamma Eapen termed the boat accident “shocking” and “haunting” and said their “hearts were bleeding” and they “underwent sleepless nights” after seeing the lifeless bodies of the children.

Taking a serious note of the Tanur tragedy, the court said such accidents have been happening in the state since 1924 with “frightening regularity” solely due to “the deadly cocktail of callousness, greed, and official apathy.”

It also arraigned the Kerala government, the District Tourism Promotion Council of Malappuram, the police chief and collector of that district, Tanur Municipality, the Port Officer, Alappuzha, and the senior Port Conservator, Beypore, as initial respondents in the PIL, which is slated to be heard next on May 12.

The bench said many more such incidents may happen “unless we put our foot firmly down” as the “patently visible” causal factors–overloading, blatant violation of statutory law, and skipping of essential safety requirements–were being repeated with impunity and “without fear, care, or caution”.

Prima facie, had the officials and authorities who were duty bound to monitor such boating operations done so, “this mishap–like the several earlier ones–would have never happened,” the court observed.

The court said that every such tragedy “triggers” a routine investigation followed by recommendations that go “unheeded” thereafter.