Karnataka High Court Today (June 23) appointed a senior lawyer to help examine sealed reports in the Chinnaswamy Stadium stampede case. The Court is also considering higher compensation for victims and legal accountability.
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KARNATAKA: Following the tragic stampede at Bengaluru’s Chinnaswamy Stadium on June 4, the Karnataka High Court has now taken suo motu action and appointed Senior Advocate S Susheela as amicus curiae (a neutral legal advisor) to help the Court handle the case better.
This means the Court itself started the case, seeing how serious the matter is.
The hearing was conducted by a Bench of Acting Chief Justice V Kameswar Rao and Justice CM Joshi.
They have directed that
“A copy of all relevant documents, including the State’s status reports which are presently in a sealed cover,”
should be handed over to Senior Advocate S Susheela for examination.
The Court wants her legal opinion on whether these reports by the State government should
“Remain in a sealed cover or be made public, or at least be shared with other relevant parties to the case.”
These documents reportedly include early findings about how the stampede happened and who might be responsible.
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The State Government, represented by Advocate General Shashi Kiran Shetty, said that the reports should stay confidential for now. The reason is that two separate inquiries—one by a magistrate and another by a judicial commission—are still ongoing. Revealing the reports too early may affect those investigations.
The Advocate General had earlier cautioned the Court against making the case political or about blame games. He had said clearly that “status reports in some paragraphs may contain the State’s preliminary findings” and revealing them might disturb the official inquiries.
“The AG had also urged the Court not to let parties engage in a mudslinging match on who is to blame for the stampede.”
However, some other lawyers have asked the Court to make the State’s report public. They have even filed applications requesting this, and the Court has not yet taken a final decision. That’s why the amicus curiae will now help the Court by giving her view on the matter.
The Court has fixed July 1 (Tuesday) as the next date of hearing. On that day, it will also start focusing on another important issue—whether the compensation for the victims and their families should be increased.
Today, Senior Advocate SS Naganand requested the Court to include in its order a note that all those who had offered to pay compensation should actually do so. He said they should keep their promises. But the Court replied that it would not comment on that today, as
“These were voluntary offers to pay compensation.” However, the Court added that “since the senior counsel had raised the issue in court today, those concerned could take note of the same and take necessary steps.”
The horrifying stampede took place when more than 5 lakh people gathered at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, hoping to meet the RCB (Royal Challengers Bengaluru) cricket team after their first-ever IPL title win. The problem was that the stadium only has space for about 33,000 people. Because of the massive crowd and lack of planning, chaos broke out.
The stampede resulted in 11 people dying and 56 others getting injured. After the tragedy, the blame game started. The State Government blamed the event organisers, saying they did not give proper notice. The organisers, in return, blamed the State, saying it did not provide enough security or crowd control.
The police filed a criminal case against several people and organisations, including RCB officials, the event management company DNA, and the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), which is in charge of the stadium.
On June 6, some of the main accused were arrested. These included Sosale, DNA Vice-President Sunil Mathew, DNA Operations Manager Kiran Kumar S, and Shamant NP Mavinakere. However, they were later released on interim bail.
ALSO READ: BREAKING| RCB Stampede Case: Karnataka HC Grants Interim Bail to Four Accused
In a recent order, the High Court also told the police not to arrest RCB and DNA representatives for now. The suo motu case is still ongoing and will be heard again on July 1.
ALSO READ: Chinnaswamy Stampede: Karnataka HC Denies Interim Relief to RCB’s Nikhil Sosale
Today, RCB and KSCA were officially present in Court through their lawyers. The Court has formally made them parties in the case. They have been asked to file their replies. DNA has also been added as a respondent in the matter.
CASE TITLE:
Suo Moto v. State of Karnataka.
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