Victims seek SC inquiry into TV show accident

ISLAMABAD: Family members of those injured when the seating area collapsed during a recording of a television game show approached the Supreme Court on Monday, seeking an inquiry into the failure of police and government authorities to pursue the case.

Also on Monday, Nilor police formally lodged an FIR against the management of ARY and Bahria Town under Section 337H of the Pakistan Penal Code, which deals with ‘Punishment for hurt by rash or negligent act’.

However, the FIR erroneously mentions May 28 as the date the incident took place.

The FIR was lodged on the complaint of Talat Mehmood, who is also one of the signatories in the application submitted to the SC.

The four-page application, signed by 10 people, highlighting the facts of the April 28 incident, requested Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar to order a probe to ascertain whether commercial and political interests had forced police and other authorities not to pursue the incident vigorously.

The chief justice took suo motu notice of the matter following reports that the injured were not provided proper medical treatment, and that the Islamabad administration seemed reluctant to take action in accordance with law.

The Islamabad chief commissioner and inspector general had filed their respective reports on the unfortunate events that occurred during the recording of the ARY Zindagi show ‘Eidee Sab Ke Liye’ on April 28.

But the figures in both reports do not match; in his report, the chief commissioner claimed that 92 persons suffered injuries in the stage collapse and they were shifted to various hospitals for treatment.

Of them, 82 suffered minor and 10 severe injuries and most of the injured left the hospitals after receiving medical treatment, the report said.

On the other hand, the police report claimed that 134 people had suffered injuries and one of them, Sameena Adnan, later died in a hospital.

The report said that the legal heirs of the deceased had stated they did not want to pursue the case because it was an accident.

The families have asked the Supreme Court to order an investigation into who issued the NOC to Bahria Town and ARY Zindagi, whether anyone from a government authority surveyed the area and examined the set, including the seating area built to accommodate approximately 3,500 participants.

“It is our contention that commercial and political pressure was applied on the hospital management,” the applicants said.

Source: Dawn