• Source:JND
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Bengaluru stampede: The Karnataka High Court on Saturday asked nine tough questions to the state government over the stampede occurred on June 4 evening in front of the Chinnaswamy stadium, Bengaluru, where a large number of people thronged to participate in the RCB team's IPL victory celebrations. Eleven people died and 56 were injured in the incident. The court directed the state government to submit detailed responses to nine critical questions.

A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice V Kameswar Rao and Justice C M Joshi raised straight question as to who is the responsible and who took the decisions about the event that turned into a major tragedy. The High Court heared a suo motu writ petition initiated by the court in the wake of the stampede. The government has been asked to file its replies by June 10.

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What Are Questions Asked By The Court?

Who authorised the RCB victory celebration event? When and how the decision was made? Whether the organisers had obtained the necessary permissions? were among the questions for which the Karnataka government will have to file its replies to the High Court by June 10.

The bench also questioned the existence of a standard operating procedure (SOP) to manage gatherings of over 50,000 people for sporting events and public celebrations of this scale.

The remaining questions focused on the state's preparedness and response, like: What measures were taken to control traffic around the venue? What arrangements were made to manage the crowd? What medical and emergency facilities were available on-site? Was there an estimate made of the number of attendees beforehand?

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Also, were the injured given prompt medical aid at the venue? If not, why?, and how much time elapsed before the injured were transported to hospitals?

Political and official sources indicated that these tough questions and the judicial scrutiny may have triggered the state government's decision to suspend five senior police officers, including Bengaluru City Police Commissioner B Dayananda.

The suspensions reportedly followed high-level discussions involving Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, senior ministers, legal advisor A S Ponnana, and Advocate General K M Shashikiran Shetty.

One-Man Inquiry Panel Under Retired HC Judge

In another development in the case, the one-man inquiry commission constituted by the Karnataka government under retired High Court judge John Michael Cunha to inquire into the June 4 stampede has been asked to identify the persons responsible for the omissions or deficiencies that led to this incident.

As per the terms of reference to the commission from the government, it has also suggested precautionary measures that can be taken to prevent recurrence of such incidents in the future, among others.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on June 5 announced that a one-man commission would be formed under Cunha to look into the procedural lapses in the issue, and the commission has been asked to give the report in 30 days.

(With PTI inputs)