The Karnataka High Court has posed a series of questions to the state government this amid investigation into the Chinnaswamy Stadium stampede — with answers due by June 10. The Siddaramaiah-led administration has been asked to file a status report on the matter by Tuesday. It has already ordered a magisterial inquiry into the matter and assured the top court earlier this week that a report could be placed “in 15 days”. Eleven died and dozens more were injured on Wednesday evening as nearly three lakh people gathered near the stadium to join the IPL victory celebrations.
The High Court took suo moto cognisance of the matter during a hearing on Thursday and reiterated the need for a standard operating procedure in such cases. It has also sought answers to several key questions — pertaining to the planning and organisation of the event, and the measures to handle the massive crowd. These included:
- Who decided to hold the victory celebration?
- In what manner and when?
- Was any permission sought to organise the event?
- Was any standard operating procedure formulated to manage a crowd of 50,000 and above in any sports event and celebrations of this nature?
- What steps were taken to regulate the traffic?
- What steps were taken to regulate the public/crowd?
- What medical and other facilities were arranged at the venue?
- Were any assessment made in advance about the number of people who could be present at the time of celebrations?
Opposition leaders have also called for Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and other top leaders to take ‘moral responsibility’ for the tragedy and resign. Former CM HD Kumaraswamy noted on Saturday that the stampede FIR had sought permission for a victory celebration even before the IPL final match was held.
“Who put the pressure on the police commissioner at 7:30 am on June 4 for permission? What was the need to felicitate the team within 24 hours of the team’s victory? Fine, what kind of felicitation was done? Was such a slipshod felicitation needed? If they have morality they should resign. But these days politicians, I can’t expect it from them, but as an opposition party, we have demanded. We are not in a miserable state to do politics on dead bodies, such a situation will never come,” he asked.