Stampede deaths: Karnataka HC takes up suo moto case, SIT may probe lapses

The Karnataka High Court on Thursday took suo moto cognizance of the stampede at Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday that claimed 11 lives and left about 90 injured.

The tragedy occurred as people rushed to the gates of the congested stadium to see their favourite cricket stars of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) team after they lifted the IPL finals cup.

There were public interest litigations (PILs) and requests to the court to go deep into the case as they expressed doubts over the event organisers and the government having followed the necessary protocols before holding events of such magnitudes at such short notice.

A division bench of acting chief justice V Kameshwar Rao and Justice CM Joshi said the court has received requests from several people on the subject to ascertain the cause of the tragedy and prevent such incidents in future. The court posted the case for further hearing to June 10, Tuesday.

Advocate General Shashi Kiran Shetty said the Police Commissioner and other senior police officers were present at the site, but there was an overwhelming crowd of about 2.5 lakh people at the stadium.

One of the advocates, speaking on behalf of the affected people, prayed for an independent inquiry insisting that the person (district magistrate) who was supposed to control the mob was deputed to conduct the inquiry now. Another advocate sought to know from the government through the court as to who decided to conduct the events -- the state government or the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA)?

Security is RCB responsiblity

The A-G, in response to a query from the Bench, said the RCB promoters handled the event and took care of the security as well.

A PIL filed by Lohith G Hanumapura requested a judicial probe by a sitting High Court judge, while seeking direction to the state government and the KSCA to share details such as approvals obtained to hold the two events on Wednesday, safety measures and crowd control plans.

Bengaluru Urban magistrate G Jagadeesha on Thursday visited the stadium area as part of a magisterial probe the government ordered into the incident with directions to submit the report in two weeks.

Earlier in the day, MoS (Labour & Employment) Shobha Karandlaje wrote to the Acting CJ requesting him to take suo moto cognizance of the incident and treat it as a matter of public interest as it reflected a systemic failure and complete collapse of the state responsibility. “Only the timely intervention of the court would uphold justice and restore public faith in governance and the rule of law, she said.

FIR registered

Shetty, the advocate general, also informed the Court that the government has transferred the FIR registered at the Cubbon Park police station to the CID with an order to form a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the charges mentioned in the complaint.

The Cubbon Park Police on Thursday registered two FIRs naming RCB promoters, event management agency DNA and KSCA as the accused for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and other provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

While one FIR was a suo motu one registered by the Cubbon Park police station, the other one was by an injured person naming the three entities as accused.