A lawyers’ body in Gujarat has decided that it will not represent the nine accused arrested over the bridge collapse in Morbi that killed over 140 people. Senior advocate AC Prajapati from the Morbi Bar Association said, “The nine accused have been arrested. The Morbi Bar Association and the Rajkot Bar Association have decided not to take their case and represent them. Both the Bar Associations have passed this resolution.”
Among the arrested are managers of Oreva, the company that renovated the bridge, ticket collectors, bridge repair contractors and three security guards whose job was to control the crowds.
SCAPEGOATS?
Two managers of the Oreva Group and two sub-contractors who had repaired the bridge have been sent to police custody till Saturday. Five other arrested men, including security guards and ticket booking clerks, are in judicial custody.
Oreva’s Managing Director Jaysukh Patel, who had publicly claimed that the renovated bridge will hold up for at least eight to ten years, has not been seen since the tragedy. The Oreva company’s farmhouse in Ahmedabad is locked and abandoned, with not even a security guard in sight. Patel was last seen, along with his family, at the reopening of the bridge on October 26.
Senior journalist Sucheta Dalal indicated that those arrested were being made the scapegoats. She tweeted, “3 security guards, 2 ticket clerks –2 managers (who had nothing to do with making decisions or bagging the contract!) Heart goes out to the dead and these scapegoats who will suffer endlessly in the coming years! maybe some lawyers ought to help them pro bono? #MorbiTragedy
Also Read: Morbi Bridge Tragedy: Rs 1 Crore Worth of Teakwood Missing
