Shimla, Aug. 9 -- Denying any relief, the Himachal Pradesh high court has dismissed the revision petition filed by the faculty members of VNR Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology, holding that the faculty members were aware of the risks, yet they did not stop the students from entering the riverbed. The faculty members - A. Aditya, C. Kiran, and Sumabala, had moved high court challenging February 8, 2024 order of trial court, dismissing their plea seeking discharge from the allegations of negligence in connection with the 2014 Beas River tragedy that claimed the lives of 25 students and a tour manager near Thalout in Mandi district. The bench of Justice Virender Singh observed, "The alleged rash and negligent act of the accused is causa causans of the incident, which has rightly been held to be the question of law and facts, by the trial court which will be proved during the course of trial." With the HC dismissing the revision petition, the trial now will be held at the Mandi court against all the accused, including 6 dam officials and three faculty members. On June 8, 2014, 48 engineering students and faculty members were travelling from Shimla to Manali when they stopped near the Beas river at Shala-Nala for a photo session. With the river level appearing low, many students moved into the riverbed. Suddenly, water was released from the Larji Dam upstream, sweeping away 25 students including six girl students,18 male students and a tour manager. The bodies were recovered over the following weeks from downstream, including Pandoh Dam. The postmortem reports confirmed drowning as the cause of death. The faculty members of VNR Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad, in its criminal revision petition before the high court, contended that there was no danger near the river, and the incident was a man-made glitch of water. They further contended that the dam and electricity board authorities did not take necessary precautions, due to which the tragedy took place.While dismissing the revision petition the high court bench on August 4, pointed out that one of the faculty members had brought her own children, but she did not take her own child to the riverbed. "This makes a prima facie case against the faculty members. The faculty members had visited the area on a previous tour as well, so they were fully aware about the topography of the area. However, the students were not aware of the nature of perennial rivers, as they were from Hyderabad and they were on an educational tour. Faculty members fled from the riverbed on sensing the danger, without taking the students with them"....