Criminal liability requires proof beyond reasonable doubt, and negligence must be directly attributable to the accused, which was not established in this case.

JUDGMENT :

1. This Criminal Appeal had been filed to set aside the Judgment dated 13.08.2013 passed by the learned XVIII Metropolitan Magistrate, Saidapet, Chennai in C.C. No. 7323 of 2010, by which the Respondents/Accused were acquitted from the criminal proceedings.

2. The brief facts, which are necessary for disposal of this Criminal Appeal, are as follows:

2.1. On 31.12.2007, to commemorate the New Year 2008, the Management of Savera Hotel, Radha Krishnan Salai, Chennai arranged for a midnight programme. For this purpose, the management of the Hotel extended invitation to customers for celebration of party in the evening. In response, many people participated in the midnight celebration ahead of the new dawn. As part of the programme, a makeshift stage in wood was put up on the swimming pool inside the campus of Savera Hotel. The first Accused is the President of the Savera Hotel. The second Accused is the Sales and Marketing General Manager. The third Accused is the Engineer of the Hotel. The fourth Accused is the Assistant Manager, Bar of the Hotel. The fifth Accused is the Stage Contractor, who erected the stage atop the swimming pool, as a makeshift stage for the programme. The sixth Accused is the stage Supervisor.

2.2. On the night of 31.12.2007, when the revelers were celebrating the programme enthusiastically, enthralled by the dance on the makeshift stage, the stage suddenly collapsed due to overweight. In the impact, three persons, who were dancing atop the stage, fell into the swimming pool and drowned and several persons suffered injuries. The rescued persons were taken to nearby Trinity Hospital where the doctors declared the trio to be “brought dead”. One of the participants, Shrine Ramakrishnan preferred a complaint under Ex.P-1 to the Sub Inspector of Police, Royapettah Police Station, based on which the case in Crime No.1236 of 2007 was registered for the offence under Sections 337 and 338 of IPC. Ex.P-13 is the First Information Report. On receipt of information that 3 persons drowned and were declared dead, an alteration report was submitted to alter the offence into one under Section 304 (a), 337 and 338 of IPC under Ex.P-14.

2.3. On receipt of a copy of the First Information Report, the Inspector of Police Royapettah Police Station proceeded with investigation. He visited the swimming pool inside Savera Hotel and the erection of makeshift stage for celebration of the new year. He prepared an Observation Mahazar under Ex.P- 16 and Rough sketch under Ex.P-17 in the presence of witnesses. As per the rough sketch under Ex.P-17, the swimming pool had depths ranging from 7 feet to 12.6 feet. He went to the Mortuary of the Madras Medical College and conducted inquest on the body of the deceased i) Sumeeth Agnihotri, ii) Anand and iii) Ramya in the presence of Panchayatdars. The inquest reports were marked as Ex.P-15, Ex.P-21 and Ex.P-22 respectively. Thereafter, the Investigation Officer went to Apollo Hospital where some of the injured victims were undergoing treatment. He also visited Trinity Hospital where some of the victims were undergoing treatment. He recorded the statement of the Doctors who treated the injured victims as well as the statement of the injured victims. In the meantime, he made arrangements to shift the dead bodies to Madras Medical College Hospital for conducting postmortem. He issued a requisition letter addressed to the Professor of Forensic Medicine to conduct post-mortem on the bodies of the deceased. The Head Constable Jayaraj from Royapettah Police Station along with requisition lett