KARACHI: Seven officials of K-Electric have been taken into custody following registration of a criminal case against the power utility pertaining to an incident in which a live wire fell on an eight-year-old boy in Ahsanabad forcing doctors to amputate both his hands to save his life, police said on Friday.

The live electric wire had fallen on the boy, Mohammad Umar, on Aug 25.

SITE Superhighway Industrial SHO Humayun Ahmed Khan told Dawn that an FIR was lodged under Sections 337-H-1 (punishment for hurt by rash or negligent act) and 336 (punishment for itlaf-i-salahiyyat-i-udw) of the Pakistan Penal Code against KE-Gadap on the complaint of the boy’s father.

The complainant stated that his family planned to go for a picnic and he sent his son to bring something from outside. At around 10.30am, he was informed that a live electric wire had fallen on his son and it was removed by area people with the help of wooden sticks from his hands.

Due to high voltage, both hands of the boy were badly burnt. He was initially admitted to the Burns Centre of the Civil Hospital Karachi where doctors suggested that both his hands needed to be amputated to save his life.

The family was not satisfied with the doctors’ recommendation and they took the boy to the Liaquat National Hospital, where doctors seconded the first opinion. The family again brought the child to the Burns Centre, where both his hands were amputated two days after the incident.

The area SHO said the police had approached the family for lodging an FIR, but they told them that they were holding ‘talks’ with the KE. However, they formally lodged the FIR against the power utility on Friday, he added.

The police detained seven KE officials — deputy manager Saeed Ahmed, assistant engineer Syed Mohammad Asim, Asif Iqbal, Saqib Husain, Sagheer Raza, Mirza Asif Beg and Mohammad Mushtaq for interrogation.

KE blames kunda system for incident

In a statement issued on Friday, a spokesperson for KE said that preliminary investigations suggested that the incident was “a consequence of the pervasive kunda wires to extract power through illegal infrastructure by some other elements where this unfortunate incident took place”.

It said that the KE deeply sympathised with the victim boy’s family and continued to engage with them for all possible support towards his current and future medical expenses. “It is understandable that the child’s family looks to explore legal options. The KE will extend full cooperation in investigation process.”

About the kunda connections, the KE statement said that the power utility had repeatedly disconnected the illegal network and even initiated regulatory action.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2018