India, Oct. 23 -- Ten years after 14 third-year students of a Pune college drowned at Murud beach, the Bombay High Court on Thursday quashed criminal proceedings against 17 people, including the institute's chairman, principal, teachers and non-teaching staff, ruling that they cannot be held "criminally negligent for an unforeseeable event occurring beyond their direct control or operational purview".

A single-judge bench of justice Milind Jadhav said that third-year college students are mature and possess a reasonable degree of life experience. They are expected to understand the distinction between right and wrong and to appreciate the likely consequences of their actions, it added.

The court also said that if vicarious liability can ...