MOHALI: The main cause of fire in the 45 odd hutments in Derabassi on in which an 18-month-old girl was charred to death on Saturday was stubble burning. The hutments were adjoining the fields where the stubble was burnt. Police on Sunday booked the farmland owner, Jeet Singh, a resident of Dafarpur village in Derabassi, for causing death due to negligence and disobedience of orders issued by a public servant.
The flames from the stubble believed to have shifted course due to winds and reached the hutments on the edge of the farmland.
The case was registered under sections 304-A, 188 and 427 0f the IPC following the complaint of Ramvir, the father of the girl, said police.
In his statement to police, Ramvir said when he came home at 3.30 pm, he went for a bath at a handpump. He saw Jeet Singh burning stubble in his farm and suddenly due to the wind, the fire was directed towards the hutments and within minutes, around 40 to 45 hutments were reduced to ashes.
Ramvir said he tried to save his daughter.
Derabassi station House officer Inspector Jaskanwal Singh Sekhon said that the body of the victim was handed over to family members after the post-mortem. "Jeet Singh is yet to be arrested," he said.
Police said the hutments had come up illegally on shamlat land along the river over the last 25 years.
The families here are mostly migrant labourers from Uttar Pradesh and work in the fields and factories nearby.
Derabassi MLA Kuljeet Singh Randhawa said, "It was an unfortunate incident and we have arranged food and shelter for families who lost their homes. I have also demanded compensation from the administration," he said.
