Central Administrative Tribunal holds RCB "responsible" for Bengaluru stampede

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], July 1 (ANI): The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) on Tuesday stated that it was the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), who appear to be "prima facie responsible" for the Chinnaswamy Stadium stampede that claimed 11 lives and left dozens injured.
The quasi-judicial body stated that RCB didn't obtain permission from the police and posted about the gathering on social media platforms, which led to the assembly of approximately three to five lakh people. It said that police were not given sufficient time to make appropriate arrangements.
"Prima facie, it appears that the RCB (Royal Challengers Bengaluru) is responsible for the gathering of about three to five lakh people. The RCB did not take the appropriate permission or consent from the Police. Suddenly, they posted on social media platforms and as a result of the aforementioned information, the public gathered. Due to the time constraint on June 4, the Police were unable to make the necessary arrangements. Sufficient time was not given to the Police," the CAT observed.
In the past month, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has attempted to corner the Siddaramaiah government in Karnataka over the issue of the stampede at Bengaluru's Chinnaswamy Stadium, while demanding the resignation of Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar.
Rejecting their demands, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on June 17 challenged state BJP leaders to first publish a list of their leaders who had resigned in similar past incidents.
"I request the BJP leaders in the state to first release a list of BJP leaders who resigned during similar incidents in the past before demanding our resignation," Siddaramaiah said in a statement.
He termed the stampede near the Chinnaswamy Stadium during the IPL victory celebration of RCB an "unfortunate accident."
Karnataka Leader of Opposition (LoP) R Ashok urged the state government to convene an emergency session of the legislature to discuss the stampede tragedy at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
In a letter to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah earlier, Ashok highlighted that the incident has raised serious questions about public safety, crowd control, and the organisation of sports and other events.
Eleven people died and more than 30 were injured in a stampede outside Bengaluru's M Chinnaswamy stadium as a huge crowd of nearly 3 lakh people had gathered to witness the victory celebration of Royal Challengers Bengaluru for winning the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Following the incident, the Karnataka government suspended top police officials at the Cubbon Park Police Station on June 5 and formed a one-man commission under a retired High Court Judge to probe the incident.
After announcing ex-gratia worth Rs 10 lakh each for the next of kin of the deceased, Siddaramaiah ordered an increase in the compensation amount for the families of those who died in the Chinnaswamy Stadium stampede in Bengaluru to Rs 25 lakh each. (ANI)