Outrage in India as dozens killed in fires, including 16 children

Municipal authorities in the western Indian state of Gujarat have come under fire from the country’s High Court after at least 33 people, including nine children, died in a fire at a gaming center on Saturday, while authorities in Delhi have promised a thorough investigation into a blaze at a maternity hospital on the same day, in which seven babies lost their lives.

In each incident, most victims perished due to alleged safety-code violations. The High Court on Monday lashed out at Gujarat’s municipal authorities after learning that gaming zones in the city had been operating for years without permits or fire-safety certificates.

The court has also questioned the state government for its apparent lack of controls. “Have you gone blind? Did you fall asleep?” a hearing into the gaming-zone inferno heard, according to NDTV. The bench also went as far as to say the bureaucracy and the state government cannot be trusted. “People are dying due to [dysfunctional state] machinery,” the hearing was told.

On the previous day the court, comprising Justices Biren Vaishnav and Devan Desai, looked into the fire tragedy and found it to be a “man-made disaster.”

According to a report from PTI news agency, the court also observed that all local municipal authorities serving since 2021, when the gaming zone started operating, until the time of the incident “should be held accountable for the tragedy that occurred,” and directed them to furnish separate affidavits.

More than 15 people are still missing in the Gujarat incident, according to media reports. The intensity of that blaze was such that many of the bodies recovered could not be identified, forcing authorities to rely on DNA tests noted.