Panaji: The Mapusa court, in its order granting him bail, said that the crime of culpable homicide against Birch by Romeo Lane owners Gaurav Luthra, 44, and Saurabh Luthra, 40, does not fall in the category of the most heinous crimes like murder, where the punishment can extend to death or mandatory life imprisonment.Last December, 25 people had lost their lives in a fire that broke out at Birch in Romeo Lane, Arpora.The court observed that the Luthra brothers have been in custody for more than three months since December 16, and said that prolonged incarceration without the possibility of an early conclusion of the trial would amount to pre-trial punishment.It states that culpable homicide, where there is neither knowledge nor intention to cause death, is of a comparatively lesser degree than crimes involving intent to cause death. Additional Sessions Judge 1, North Goa, Mapusa, Dwijapal V Patkar, said Luthra “is not accused of a crime of a serious nature like murder, and the allegations, at the highest level, do not involve any intention to cause death.”The court said it had to balance the interest of society with Luthra’s fundamental right to personal liberty. It noted that a charge sheet has been filed, indicating the conclusion of the investigation and the case is in the preliminary stage.The trial is unlikely to conclude in the near future, given the current “docket explosion, number of old cases, custody/undertrial prisoners’ cases, Disha cases and the nature of the proceedings, including the fact that the charge sheet runs into over 4,000 pages, contains numerous documents and cites 306 witnesses, including outside witnesses, and 13 accused persons have been convicted”, the court said. “Such continuous imprisonment would be punitive, which is legally unacceptable,” it said.The Luthra brothers, represented by lawyer Parag Rao, told the court that the charge sheet did not mention any specific role of theirs in committing any of the alleged crimes. Rao told the court that the allegations have been leveled against partners and managers in general.Anjuna Police objected to the bail considering the severity of the sentence, the scale of the incident and the gravity of the crime. The PI had said that granting bail would shake society’s faith in the criminal justice system.Government lawyer J Santamaria objected to his bail, saying he had disregarded the law and human life by fleeing the country, and said he was in a position of influence over his employees and witnesses. She argued that the crimes against them were serious, resulting in the deaths of 25 people, with all witnesses being Birch employees.________________________________________________Order reserved in NOC fraud casePanaji: Mapusa court has reserved its order for Wednesday on the bail pleas of Gaurav and Saurabh Luthra in the NOC forgery case registered by Mapusa police. By Romeo Lane The Birch brothers and owners were granted bail in the main fire case last week, but were then taken into custody by the Mapusa police in connection with the forgery case, for which they have not yet been granted bail. He was accused of using fake NOC from Candolim Health Center to run a night club. Mapusa police filed a separate FIR on the complaint of the health officer of Candolim Primary Health Centre, stating that unauthorized persons from Birch impersonated him, forged his signature and made forged entries in the register to obtain the health NOC. news network