India Temple Fire:
Kerala Disaster Leaves Over 100 Dead, 200 Injured
A massive fire broke out during a fireworks display in a Hindu temple in south India early Sunday, killing more than 100 people and injuring at least 200 others, officials said.The fire started when a spark from the unauthorized fireworks show ignited a separate batch of fireworks that were being stored at the Puttingal temple complex in Paravoor village.The temple holds a competitive fireworks display every year.This year, district authorities denied permission for the fireworks display, Chief Minister Chandy said.The state's High Court had earlier mandated that fireworks must be stored more than 100 yards from temples — orders that were flouted at the Paravoor temple."We will be investigating how the orders were flouted and who was responsible for the decision to go ahead with the firework display," Chandy said.
What would happen if a gang of street thugs set fire to a temple; killed hundreds of innocent victims and injured hundreds more? Each member of the gang would receive the maximum penalty allowed by the law - execution. Even if the gangsters successfully appealed against the death penalty they would surely spend the rest of their life in prison without the possibility of parole.
But this time the killers are board members of a Hindu temple...
So here's my prediction: The Government will make a huge show of questioning all of the temple board members and eventually a small number of them will be arrested for a variety of minor charges (probably no-one will be charged with murder). That will be enough to satisfy the public - and later, when the publicity has died down, most of the charges against the killers will be dropped (probably for "lack of evidence").
In a couple of years from now, when you check back on this story, you will find that a few of the lower level board members will have received prison sentences of less than two years while everyone else has been set free with not a stain on their character.
That's my prediction ... There is no way the Government will dare to severely punish a bunch of wealthy Hindu board members - for the simple reason that wealthy Hindus are much more valued and respected than the hundreds of working class nitwits who got themselves killed or injured in the temple fire.
Update:
It's even worse than I expected. Authorities arrested five people as decoys (factory hands working for the fireworks company) thus giving the Hindu board members time to run away. All fifteen of them have now disappeared. And now that they are out of harm's way the police have released the decoys who were arrested earlier.
Latest figures: 110 dead, 380 wounded.
But this time the killers are board members of a Hindu temple...
So here's my prediction: The Government will make a huge show of questioning all of the temple board members and eventually a small number of them will be arrested for a variety of minor charges (probably no-one will be charged with murder). That will be enough to satisfy the public - and later, when the publicity has died down, most of the charges against the killers will be dropped (probably for "lack of evidence").
In a couple of years from now, when you check back on this story, you will find that a few of the lower level board members will have received prison sentences of less than two years while everyone else has been set free with not a stain on their character.
That's my prediction ... There is no way the Government will dare to severely punish a bunch of wealthy Hindu board members - for the simple reason that wealthy Hindus are much more valued and respected than the hundreds of working class nitwits who got themselves killed or injured in the temple fire.
Update:
It's even worse than I expected. Authorities arrested five people as decoys (factory hands working for the fireworks company) thus giving the Hindu board members time to run away. All fifteen of them have now disappeared. And now that they are out of harm's way the police have released the decoys who were arrested earlier.
Police detained five workers for questioning about fireworks stored at the site, hoping to learn more about who owned the fireworks and who had contracted the pyrotechnical display, police constable R. Unnikrishnan Nair said. The five were later released, but Nair did not say whether they were able to help authorities track down any of the 15 temple board members who fled after the accident.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/
Latest figures: 110 dead, 380 wounded.
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