UK victim of Mumbai attacks to sue owners of Taj Mahal hotel

November 27, 2013

Mumbai_attacksLondon, Nov 27: A 33-year-old British man, paralysed during the Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008, is suing the owners of the iconic Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, alleging they did little to provide security for guests despite several warnings that an assault on the hotel was imminent.

Will Pike from North London is taking legal action against the Indian Hotels Company Ltd, a part of the Tata Group.

Pike will approach the High Court in London on December 2 to argue against an attempt by the hotel owners to prevent his legal case against them being heard in a UK court, his lawyers said on the fifth anniversary of the terrorist assault on India's financial hub that left 166 people dead.

Pike was paralysed when he fell nearly 50 feet breaking his back, pelvis and leg and fracturing both his left wrist and right elbow in a bid to escape the LeT terrorists as they went through the hotel shooting residents and setting fires.

Leigh Day, his London-based lawyers are bringing a civil claim for damages against the Indian Hotels Company.

They allege the owners of the hotel did little to provide security for residents despite several warnings that an attack on the hotel was imminent.

They argue that the case should be heard in the UK, where Pike lives and where the Indian Hotels Company has a substantial business presence, based around the Crowne Plaza St James Hotel and the Taj Suites, just a stone's throw from Buckingham Palace in London.

Trying to fight the Tatas, India's largest corporate group, through the Indian courts is an exercise in futility according to Pike's lawyer, Russell Levy.

Levy said, "Mr Pike's only real hope of seeing justice is in a UK court. The court in Mumbai simply isn't geared up to deal with a claim of this kind. We estimate that it would take up to 25 years to pursue this claim through the Indian courts rather than in England, where it will take about two years.

"It is simply not right that this billion-dollar corporate giant wants to drag our wheelchair-bound client back to India and take him through a legal system where the inequality of arms would be significant," he said.

Pike and his girlfriend at that time, Kelly Doyle, who is also represented by Leigh Day, checked into the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel on November 26, 2008.

While escaping through a hotel window, the knots in the bedding cloth he used as a rope came undone and Pike fell to the ground suffering serious injuries though Doyle was saved.

Pike, who is now confined to a wheelchair, said, "My aim in taking this legal action is to pay for the life long care I now need...I do not see why the British taxpayer should have to pay for the life long care I need rather than those who I believe did not do enough to guarantee my safety and the safety of all those caught up in this atrocity."

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
February 29,2020

New Delhi, Feb 29: The father of Intelligence Bureau staffer Ankit Sharma, whose body was pulled out of a drain in northeast Delhi's riot-hit Chand Bagh, complained to police that goons had assembled at the residence of former AAP counselor Tahir Hussain and were throwing petrol bombs from the rooftop.

According to the FIR which was registered on Thursday on the basis of the complaint lodged by Ankit's father Ravinder, the goons were also firing from the rooftop.

On Tuesday, Ankit returned from his office at 5 pm and then went outside to buy groceries. When he did not return, the family started looking for him and later filed a missing report, the FIR stated.

They got to know from their neighbours that a body has been recovered from a drain… later it was found to be that of Anikt, it said, adding the body had multiple stab injuries on the face, head, back, and chest.

The family has alleged in the FIR that it was Hussain and the goons at his residence who killed Ankit. In the FIR, Hussain has been accused of murder, destruction of evidence and abduction.

Soon after the FIR was registered on Thursday, the AAP suspended Tahir Hussain from the primary membership of the party till the police completed its probe.

The death toll in Delhi's communal violence rose to 42 on Friday as the situation showed some signs of returning to normalcy and clouds of smoke cleared to reveal the extent of the damage from the worst riots in the city in over three decades.

A total of 148 FIRs have been registered and 630 people have been either arrested or detained so far in connection with the communal violence, a Delhi Police spokesperson said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
June 24,2020

New Delhi, Jun 24: With the highest single-day spike of 15,968 cases and 465 deaths in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 count reached 4,56,183 on Wednesday.

According to the latest update by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), 14,476 deaths have been recorded due to the infection so far in the country.

The count includes 1,83,022 active cases, and 2,58,685 cured/discharged/migrated patients.

Maharashtra with 1,39,010 confirmed cases remains the worst-affected by the infection so far in the country. The state's count includes 62,848 active, 69,631 cured, discharged patients while 6,531 deaths have been reported due to the infection so far.

Meanwhile, the national capital's confirmed coronavirus cases reached 66,602.

2,301 deaths have been reported in Delhi due to the infection so far.

Tamil Nadu has reported 64,603 cases so far with the death toll reaching 833.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
March 20,2020

New Delhi, Mar 20: The coronavirus pandemic will leave behind a global recession with small businesses, self-employed and daily wagers taking the worst hit, Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra said on thursday.

"The virus will eventually be conquered, but it will have left behind a global recession. The costs of that are incalculably high at this time. The most fearsome toll will be on small businesses, the self-employed & those whose lives depend on meagre daily wages," Mahindra said in a tweet.

Apart from the toll on lives, the legacy of Covid-19 may well be deaths due to stress, loss of livelihoods, a rise in homelessness and in extreme situations, civil unrest, he added.

"The only global experience that has lessons for us in the current situation is the last world war. In the aftermath of WW2, the US came up with the Marshall plan to revive Europe, effectively a giant fiscal pump-priming," Mahindra said.

In the US, the government dramatically dismantled regulations and opened up the economy to trade and these actions led to a boom-cycle that stretched to 1975, he added.

"This time, there will be no victors, only the vanquished. So every country will have to create its own post ‘virus war” marshall plan & take care of those in society who are hit the hardest. Perhaps we too can build the foundations of a sustained global growth cycle," Mahindra said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.