Court Denies Bail To Force Gurkha Owner Jailed For Allegedly ‘Speeding’ On Flooded Road

A Delhi businessman, Manuj Kathuria, who was arrested for allegedly driving his SUV recklessly through waterlogged streets and flooding the basement of an IAS coaching center a few days ago was denied bail. The video of the Force Gurkha passing through the streets in front of the coaching center had gone viral on the internet, and the cops had arrested the Gurkha’s owner based on the video.

The owner of the Force Gurkha, Manuj Kathuria, was seen driving the SUV through a waterlogged street outside Rau’s IAS Study Circle in West Delhi last Saturday. The SUV allegedly sent a surge of water towards the coaching center, which broke the gate. After the gate broke, water from the streets started flowing into the basement of the coaching center.

The coaching center was running a library in the basement, and three of the twenty students trapped there sadly drowned. After the arrest, the police claimed that “negligence has been established on the part of the arrested driver. He was driving very fast. Due to this, the gate of the coaching center broke. A street vendor had tried to stop him.”

Mr. Kathuria’s wife, Shima Kathuria, denied the allegations and said that her husband had not done anything wrong. She pointed out that the coaching center was running the library in the basement illegally. The basement of the building only had permission to be used as storage. She also pointed out that the police officers did not do their job properly; they should have ideally cordoned off the waterlogged street to avoid accidents.

Manuj Kathuria has challenged his arrest in the case, and the petition will be heard tomorrow. The city court has denied bail to the owners of the basement, Parvinder Singh, Sarvjit Singh, Harvinder Singh, and Tejender Singh, in connection with the same case.

Is This Right?

We don’t think that the Force Gurkha owner was intentionally driving through the streets in a reckless manner. He had no other choice. The streets were flooded, and we feel he was only trying to save his vehicle from any damage. The gate did get damaged after the great surge of water hit it.

However, if he had gone any slower, we feel he would have stalled his vehicle, which would have made things difficult for the car owner. We feel blaming the SUV driver alone for this unfortunate accident is not sending the right message.

The municipal corporation of the area should have been prepared to tackle situations like these. The national capital had already witnessed flooding a month ago. Waterlogging in most parts of Delhi happens due to a poor drainage system. The municipal corporation of the area should take the initiative every year before the monsoon to clean the drains and remove silt from them.

When they fail to do so, the drains get clogged up and affect the flow of rainwater, and the streets get filled up. If they had kept the drains clean, this accident would have never happened. The municipal authorities and the coaching center are also to be equally blamed in this case.