Who Is Aruna Jagdeesan? Retired Judge Set To Investigate Stampede At Vijay’s Rally In Karur

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has called upon retired judge Justice Aruna Jagdeesan to investigate the deadly stampede in Karur in the rally of actor-politician Vijay on Saturday. More than 30 people were dead and nearly 100 were injured as the organisers failed to estimate the number of people who turned up for the political rally.

Tamil Nadu's Director General of Police G Venkataraman was quoted by NDTV as saying, “The organisers put the expected number at 10,000, but about 27,000 people turned up. Earlier rallies of TVK had smaller crowds, but this time the turnout was far higher than expected.”

The Tamil Nadu DGP added, "The permission was sought between 3 pm to 10 pm. The TVK Twitter account said he would come at 12, and the crowd started coming in from 11 AM. He came at 7.40 PM. The people lacked sufficient food and water under the hot sun."

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Who Is Justice Aruna Jagdeesan?

Justice Aruna Jagdeesan is a retired judge of the Madras High Court with a proven track record of handling high-profile, complex cases. She is heading the commission that is investigating the stampede at actor-turned-politician Vijay’s rally in Karur on Saturday.

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In the past, she had served as a puisne judge at the Madras High Court from 2009 till she retired in 2015. Previously, she was part of the investigation into the violence that broke out following the anti-sterlite protests in Tamil Nadu’s Tuticorin district in 2018. 13 people were killed in police firing against a massive crowd of protesters opposing the Sterlite Copper smelting plant. The commission had recommended actions against 17 police officials, along with the IPS officer posted in the area at that time. 

She was also on the bench that, in February 2015, exonerated the Chennai Police in connection with alleged fake encounter killings in Velachery, where five men accused of bank robbery were shot dead.

Justice Jagadeesan was additionally involved in investigating cases related to the assets of the late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and her close associates.