Kochi boy's drowning: Parents allege criminal negligence by apartment association

Kochi: The family of the six-year-old boy who drowned in the swimming pool of an apartment complex in Kochi alleged that the residents’ association failed to ensure basic safety measures despite the pool being located next to a children’s play area and an earlier incident involving another child.

The parents of the boy, Sabith Gassali and Ayesha, have accused the association office-bearers of criminal negligence, alleging that the pool at Kent Hail Garden apartment complex on Stadium Link Road in Kaloor had been poorly maintained and left unsecured. The association has strongly refuted the allegations.

The boy, the second of the couple’s five children, drowned in the pool on August 17. The family, natives of Alappuzha, has been living as tenants at the apartment complex for seven years.

Speaking to the media in Kochi on Thursday, Gassali alleged that the swimming pool, located on the second-floor level between two towers housing 160 apartments, had remained unused for nearly five years. The pool is situated next to the children’s play area and, according to the family, it was separated from the playground by only a short fence that could be easily climbed.

He alleged that there was no caretaker or adequate barricading around the pool, turning the facility into a serious safety hazard.

According to Gassali, the incident occurred around 4:50 pm when his son was playing with a ball at the children’s play area. The ball bounced into the pool area, following which the child climbed over the fence to retrieve it.

"My son fell into the pool while attempting to retrieve the ball. My elder son, who was playing nearby, rushed to search for his brother within minutes of the fall after he went missing, but could not see anything because the water was pitch dark, filled with mud, moss, and slime," Gassali said.
"Even when a torchlight was shone, the pool bed was not visible. Eventually, around 8:30 pm, nearly four hours later, a resident who suspected the child might have fallen in used a pool cleaning pole to sweep the bed, which caused the body to float up," he said.

The child was declared dead on arrival at the hospital. Gassali alleged that a similar incident had occurred around three months before his son's death, when another child fell into the pool but was rescued in time.

"Yet, the association did not take any corrective measures," he said. He also claimed that the official pool logbook had not recorded an entry since 2021. According to Gassali, an enquiry with the pool cleaner revealed that routine cleaning of the pool had not been carried out for more than a year.
The family claimed that the pool held around one lakh litres of water at a depth of six feet.

The parents also questioned the maintenance of the facility despite residents paying ₹3,600 a month as maintenance charges, besides additional amounts for painting. They alleged that the pool lights remained switched off because of the risk of electric shocks caused by earth leakage.

The family further accused the association of withholding CCTV footage relating to the incident. They alleged that key footage had been deleted, while only limited mobile phone recordings of a DVR screen were initially provided to the police.

Following the incident, the association reportedly deployed a security guard at the play area between 4 pm and 7 pm. The family alleged that the guard was later withdrawn after news reports about the incident emerged. They also claimed that a message was circulated among residents stating that child safety was solely the responsibility of parents.

The family has submitted a formal petition to the Ernakulam Town North police seeking registration of a case of criminal negligence against the association president, secretary, treasurer and apartment caretaker.

The police had initially registered a case under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) pertaining to unnatural or accidental death.

Child Rights Commission flags safety lapses
The Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights inspected the apartment complex on Monday, September 21. A panel led by commission member K K Shaju, along with Child Welfare Committee officials and the police, inspected the premises.

The panel observed prima facie serious lapses and negligence on the part of the association in leaving a deep swimming pool unsecured next to a children’s play area, according to the family.

The Commission stressed that treating the death merely as an accidental occurrence would send a wrong message to society and directed the police to conduct a comprehensive probe and register an appropriate case.

A preliminary hearing involving police officers, representatives of the residents’ association and the victim’s family was conducted by the Commission on Thursday morning.

The family has maintained that the circumstances surrounding the drowning warrant a probe into possible criminal negligence by those responsible for maintaining and securing the premises.

Meanwhile, Onmanorama contacted the secretary of the Kent Hail Garden Residents’ Association for his response. He declined to comment, citing the pending police investigation and stating that he could not comment without discussing the matter with the other office-bearers of the association.