HC grants bail to accused in wall collapse case

The Madras High Court on Friday granted conditional bail to the owner of a property the compound wall of which collapsed killing 17 people near Mettupalayam recently.

Allowing the bail application of S Sivasubramanian, Justice N Seshasayee directed him to produce two sureties worth Rs 1 lakh each and directed him to stay in Madurai till further orders.

A portion of the 15-foot high compound wall of the house of Sivasubramanian, damp due to heavy rains that lashed the area then, fell on the adjoining tiled-roof houses in a Dalit settlement in Nadur village around 5 am on December 2, burying alive 17 people, including ten women and two children.

The incident led to an outrage with opposition parties accusing officials of inaction on complaints by the locals about the stability of the wall.

The owner of the house, who went absconding after the accident, was arrested in Mettupalayam on December 3 on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and a court had remanded him to judicial custody.

In his bail application, Sivasubramanian submitted that no person constructing a compound wall would imagine that it would one day create harm to his neighbours.

Most importantly, no one would put his life in jeopardy by putting up a weak construction in his residential quarters. The fury of nature was such that even a well-constructed compound wall would give away, he said.

To connect a case of an accident to culpable homicide not amounting to murder was highly illegal, he contended.

Sivasubramanian further submitted he was involved in textile business in Mettupalayam and that he would not flee from justice and would cooperate with the prosecuting agency.