Santacruz hotel fire: ‘Our family didn’t choose this hotel, the airline did’

Rupal and Kishan with Rupal’s parents Kanji and Manjula Vekaria. Manjula was in another room in Hotel Galaxy with Rupal’s younger sister. They survived the fire

A week after the fire at Santacruz's Hotel Galaxy that claimed three lives, the family of the deceased couple has sent a notice to IndiGo airlines, requesting that they fulfil what they believe is the airline's ‘moral and legal responsibility'. The couple, along with two of their kin, had been provided accommodation at the hotel by the airline after they were disallowed from boarding their flight from Mumbai to Nairobi due to gate closure. The travellers' connecting flight from Ahmedabad had arrived late.

Since the incident occurred on August 27, your company has not made any public statements or offered condolences, including communication regarding rightful compensation to the deceased family," the notice reads. The notice has provided the company with a 14-day period (starting September 2, the day it was sent) to compensate the families of the victims; otherwise, "necessary legal action" will be initiated.

A fire had broken out at Galaxy hotel in Santacruz on August 27, leaving three people dead. Pic/Shadab Khan

Arjun Amanchi, the lawyer representing the families of Kishan Halai, 27, and Rupal Vekaria, 25, has invoked clause 17 of the Carriage by Air Act, 1972. This clause addresses the airline's responsibility for passenger injury or death while on board or "in the course of any of the operations of embarking or disembarking".

Additionally, Amanchi has also invoked the Ministry of Civil Aviation-approved Passenger Charter, which states that in the event of a passenger's death on-board an aircraft, the airline is liable to pay damages up to 1,13,100 Special Drawing Rights (SDR) per passenger. SDR is a currency value mix set up by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), with the current value of 1 SDR equal to Rs 110.78.

The mother and sister of Rupal Vekaria, 25, who perished in the fire along with her fiance Kishan Halai

"There is clear negligence and a compromise on safety standards on your company's part for placing passengers in hotels like Galaxy without checking minimum safety standards and Civil Aviation requirements for Air Passengers during layovers/stopovers," the notice reads.

Determining accountability

The essence of the family's case against the airline is that the carrier cannot simply accommodate passengers in any hotel without ensuring the highest safety requirements, Amanchi told mid-day. "We did not book directly with Hotel Galaxy; our booking was with the airline. Therefore, we do not have a direct claim on the hotel, as the police will be dealing with it. We were victims because of the choice made by the airline," he said.

A faulty circuit was found to be being the Hotel Galaxy fire last month. Pic/Shadab Khan

‘A ticket is a contract'

Former airline instructor pilot and a former aviation safety adviser with the Civil Aviation Safety Advisory Council, Captain Mohan Ranganathan, said, "When a ticket is issued, it becomes a contract, so until the end of the journey, passenger safety remains the airline's responsibility. Therefore, if there was a break in the journey, and the airline has arranged and chosen a hotel, then it is the airline's responsibility to ensure safety."

Rupal Vekaria and her fiance Kishan Halai

Legal experts say that the family's claim for compensation from the airline, rather than the hotel, is correct. "Ideally, there is also a case against the hotel, but the police are already pursuing it under criminal law. It is also worth noting that the hotel may not be in a position to meet the required compensatory needs to address the irreparable loss suffered by the family, which the airline can," said Advocate Trivankumar Karnani, a practising criminal litigation lawyer with the Bombay High Court.

Karnani added that the airline's act of providing accommodation in a substandard establishment, leading to the passengers' deaths, "not onlyconstitutes a breach under clause 17 r/w clause no. 5 of the Carriage by Air Act but also constitutes a Commission of Deficiency in Service and Unfair Trade Practices as per the Consumer Protection Act." "Moreover, this incident unveils the commission of cognisable criminal offences under the Indian Penal Code against the hotel establishment, which requires a thorough investigation as it lacked the requisite fire-fighting apparatus and failed in the upkeep of its electrical systems, subsequently leading to the fire," Karnani added.

The hotel staff had earlier told mid-day that it had a long-time association with the airline, and IndiGo, too, confirmed that the accommodation at Hotel Galaxy was provided by them. When contacted regarding the notice, IndiGo's press representative, C Leekha, told mid-day that they had no comments.

How travel was delayed

In an earlier report, Kishan's brother, Nikunj, told mid-day that the couple, along with Rupal's mother and younger sister, were returning to Nairobi from Ahmedabad and had a connecting IndiGo flight from Mumbai. The family had come to India for Nikunj's wedding in late July. The four had stayed back to shop for Kishan and Rupal's wedding scheduled for February 2024.

They were scheduled to arrive in Mumbai at 12.05 am from Ahmedabad on an IndiGo flight on August 27 and had a connecting flight (No. 6E 1853) to Nairobi, scheduled to depart at 2.10 am. However, due to the delay of the first flight, the family arrived in Mumbai around an hour late and was not allowed to board the second one. They were provided with accommodation at Hotel Galaxy by the airline. However, the room they were staying in at the establishment caught fire and among the four, only Rupal's mother and younger sister, who were in a different room, survived.

Sept 2
Day the notice was sent to IndiGo