New Delhi: A Delhi court Wednesday dismissed the regular bail plea of Hari Ram Gupta, primary accused in the Satya Niketan building collapse case. Gupta, 82, had sought relief citing his age and medical condition.Additional sessions judge Saurabh Pratap Singh Laler dismissed the plea after hearing arguments on behalf of Gupta, who had claimed he was suffering from high blood sugar and required medical attention. The detailed order is yet to be uploaded.Earlier, the prosecution had opposed the bail plea, saying the medical report did not mention any disease that cannot be treated by the jail dispensary.On Monday, Judge Singh had sought a medical report from the jail authorities after Gupta moved the fresh bail plea through advocate Yashpal Singh, stating he is a senior citizen and suffered from diabetes.Gupta’s previous regular bail on Sept 18 had also been dismissed by the same court, which had taken note of the extent of the tragedy and the stage of the investigation. It had observed that Gupta was the husband of the owner of the property, while the electricity connections at the premises were in his name.The court had also noted that witnesses had spoken about Gupta’s involvement in the work being carried out at the site. It further noted that the property was generating substantial monthly rent, while issues relating to its upkeep were yet to be examined.At the time, the court had said the investigation was at an initial stage and the chargesheet had not yet been filed and, therefore, it was not a fit case for grant of regular bail.The Sept 6 building collapse had resulted in seven deaths and left several people injured.Meanwhile, Delhi High Court Wednesday sought the stand of concerned authorities on a fresh PIL seeking a dedicated mechanism to monitor the safety and welfare of students living in PG accommodations, rented flats and private hostels in Delhi. HC directed that the plea be listed along with a batch of similar petitions already slated to come up for hearing on Oct 14.The plea has been filed by Shivansh Kalia, a second-year DU student, seeking constitution of student accommodation advisory and monitoring committees at the college, university and major student or coaching hub levels to address concerns.The plea states a large number of students reach Delhi for higher education but depend on PGs, rented flats and private hostels due to limited institutional hostel facilities. However, they don’t have a dedicated mechanism to report concerns, such as unsafe buildings, fire hazards, overcrowding, sanitation problems, overcharging and harassment.
