PESHAWAR: Police have registered a criminal case against the owners, shareholders and construction contractor of the private school in Dir Colony where a roof collapse killed 30 children and a female teacher. The case was lodged at Agha Mir Jani Shah police station on behalf of the state.
The first information report (FIR) has been registered under Section 322 of the Pakistan Penal Code, which covers qatl-bis-sabab, or death caused without an intention to kill. Police say efforts are under way to arrest the suspects named in the report.
According to the FIR, the school building was constructed with substandard materials and was in a dilapidated condition, making it unsuitable for use as a school. It states that complaints had earlier been made about the deteriorating walls and roofs, but the school management allegedly failed to act on them. The report adds that even children had raised concerns about the building’s condition, without any response from the owners.
The FIR records that the roofs of a nursery classroom on the second floor and rooms on the ground floor gave way, causing the casualties. It puts the toll at 30 children and one female teacher dead, with 52 people injured. Rescue workers spent hours pulling victims from the rubble as distraught parents gathered outside, seeking news of their children.
The report also traces the school’s origins: it stood on a 16-marla plot owned by Waheed and Javed, taken on lease in 2024, after which the building was constructed.
The school owner had already been taken into custody, having earlier attributed the collapse to several days of rainfall. Meanwhile, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has set up district committees to inspect private school buildings across the province for structural defects and safety hazards.
Read our earlier reports on the collapse and on the school owner’s arrest.
