Beas River Tragedy | HP High Court Upholds Criminal Negligence Charges Against Faculty Members Over Death Of Students On College Trip

The Himachal Pradesh High Court dismissed a revision petition filed by the faculty members of VNR Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology, over the death of several students on a college trip in the Beas River tragedy, holding that the faculty members were fully aware that the students were likely to die, yet they did not stop the students from entering the riverbed.The Court upheld the trial court's decision and noted that the faculty members were liable under Section 304-A, read with Section 34 IPC, for causing death by negligence and a common intention was made out. The Court observed that one of the Faculty members had brought her own children, but she did not take her own child to the riverbed. This makes a prima facie case against the faculty members. Also, the faculty members had visited the area on a previous tour as well, so they were fully aware about the topography of the area. However, the students were not aware of the nature of perennial rivers, as they were from Hyderabad and they were on an educational tour. Also, the faculty members fled from the riverbed on sensing the danger, without taking the students with them. Justice Virender Singh noted that: “The alleged rash and negligent act of the accused is causa causans of the incident, which has rightly been held to be the question of law and facts, by the learned trial Court which will be proved during the course of trial.”Background Facts:The Faculty Members of VNR Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad, filed a criminal revision petition before the High Court, contending that there was no danger near the river, and the incident was a manmade glitch of water. They further contended that the dam & electricity board authorities did not take necessary precautions, due to which the tragedy took place. In June 2014, a batch of 48 students including 35 boys and 13 girls, accompanied by 2 faculty members, of VNR College and one lady staff member and her son, 2 tour operators, 3 drivers, 4 cooks, 2 cleaners, and 2 booking managers were going from Shimla to Kullu Manali in 2 private buses. When the students reached near Beas River they wanted to take photographs of the river, and so, both the bus drivers parked the two buses on the road side, and all the students went towards the river with the tour manager.Suddenly there was speedy and full flow of water in the river, due to which all got panicked and were trying to run to the shore. Some were able to reach the land and save themselves, whereas many got washed away by the heavy flow of fast-moving turbulent river water, wherein 6 girl students and 18 male students and one tour manager were washed away.Case Name: A.Aditya & others v/s State of H.P. & Ors. Case No.: Cr. Revision No.284 of 2024Date of Decision: 04.08.2025For the Petitioner: Mr. V. Pattabhi and Mr. Rajnish Maniktala, Senior Advocates with Mr. N.V. Raghav Reddy, Mr. L Prasad Rao and Mr. Dinkar Bhaskar, Advocates.For the Respondents: Mr. Tejasvi Sharma & Mr. H.S. Rawat, Additional Advocates General with Mr. Rohit Sharma and Ms. Ranjna Patial, Deputy Advocates General for respondent No. 1. Mr. Suneet Goel, Senior Advocate with Mr. Vivek Negi, Advocate for respondent No.2.Click Here To Read/Download Order

Beas River Tragedy | HP High Court Upholds Criminal Negligence Charges Against Faculty Members Over Death Of Students On College Trip

Mehak Aggarwal

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