00:00Right, I have an update that is coming in from the top court of the country.
00:03This is with regard to the recent bus fire that India today has reported about.
00:07The court is taking cognizance of such issues as well, not merely passing it off as an accident.
00:13In the latest year, the Supreme Court on a PL that was filed in the top court after Great Anoida
00:17bus tragedy,
00:19the petitioner informing the Supreme Court of Great Anoida fire,
00:23and notice has been issued to Chief Secretary and the Centre.
00:26The Supreme Court has directed top officials of Uttar Pradesh to respond at the earliest on this,
00:32but also especially because, as India today has been reporting, it was not simply an accident.
00:38It is being seen as much as negligence that turned into a crime scene, especially with nine people dead.
00:44Anisha Mathura, legal correspondent, joins me for the latest on that.
00:48Anisha, because I remember we very categorically showed there were chalans against this bus,
00:52the driver refused to listen to what the eyewitnesses and passengers were requesting,
00:57but how is the court getting involved here? What is the court asking for?
01:00Well, see, Pooja, the Supreme Court has already been monitoring the issue of road safety.
01:04This is a PIL that's been in the court for almost a decade now,
01:07and there have been multiple orders passed by the courts with regard to safety standards,
01:13with regard to road accident matters, all of these.
01:16Today, while hearing this matter, the bench of Justices Pardiwala and Chandran
01:20was informed by one of the petitioners that there has been yet another situation,
01:25yet another case where a bus, a sleeper bus caught fire, nine people have died,
01:30and that is where the court has taken cognizance.
01:33It has issued notice now to the Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh as well as the MORTH,
01:38the Ministry of Road Transport, as to what action has actually been taken.
01:42The court also asking that there are already regulations in place.
01:45So, were any of those regulations being followed?
01:48Now, detailed response has to be given by the state as well as the central government,
01:53because as you pointed out, India today has been reporting on the sheer number of violations.
01:58And as I said, this is not the first time the court is asking these questions.
02:02Are the regulations with regard to road safety,
02:05are the regulations with regard to public transport actually being followed in this country?
02:10That is what the court is once again asking with the Uttar Pradesh government and the MORTH,
02:14especially for this bus.
02:16Was any action taken against a driver?
02:18Was any action taken against the bus owner?
02:21And what are the regulations that were violated in this case?
02:26So, we will be tracking what does the U.P. government top officials respond to that.
02:29Thank you very much for this update coming in from Anisha Mathur.
02:32Remember this bus driver, according to the passengers India today has tracked down,
02:36had said he was busy smoking bidis.
02:39When he was requested an urge to stop, he did not.
02:42There were already several chillans pending against this bus driver,
02:45about the amount of 1.75 lakh crore rupees.
02:48How was it still allowed to ply so normally on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh road?
02:54It was going from Kashmirigate to Mahoba.
02:56All of this will have to be ascertained because it's not about one bus.
03:00It's about the audacity of some of these drivers, conductors or the bus agents,
03:04bus owners who believe they can violate norms and play with human lives.
