RCB and DNA Entertainment move High Court to quash criminal cases filed after the tragic Chinnaswamy Stadium stampede that killed 11.
Bengaluru: Today, on June 09, the Karnataka High Court has said that it will hear on June 10 the petitions filed by Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and DNA Entertainment Pvt Ltd.
These petitions challenge the criminal cases filed against them in connection with the tragic stampede that took place near the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on June 4, which led to the death of 11 people.
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On Monday, Royal Challengers Sports Limited (RCSL) — the company that owns RCB — and DNA Entertainment filed separate petitions in the High Court.
Both parties are seeking to quash the FIRs that have been registered against them by the police regarding the incident.
In its petition, RCSL claimed that it has been wrongly named in the case and that it had clearly informed the public in advance about the arrangements for the event.
The company submitted that it had made a public announcement stating,
“only limited passes were available.”
It further added that even those free passes were subject to prior booking, saying,
“pre-registration was mandatory for entry.”
RCSL also blamed the mismanagement of the stadium gates for the crowd surge. As per their statement in the petition,
“stadium gates, which were supposed to open at 1.45 pm, were actually opened only at 3 pm, causing a crowd surge.”
The company alleged that this delay played a major role in creating chaos and leading to the stampede.
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Meanwhile, DNA Entertainment Pvt Ltd, which was also involved in the management of the event, filed its own petition.
In its argument, DNA stated that the police were mainly responsible for the incident, as they failed to manage the crowd effectively.
DNA claimed that
“the incident occurred due to failure of crowd management by the police.”
In their petition, DNA also pointed out that many police officers were deployed at the Vidhana Soudha at the time of the event, leaving the stadium area with very few personnel to control the rising number of people.
Their submission read,
“most police personnel were posted at the Vidhana Soudha, leaving the stadium understaffed despite a surging crowd.”
During the court proceedings on Monday, Advocate General Shashikiran Shetty requested the High Court to combine all the petitions related to the stampede and hear them together on June 10.
Also Read: CID to Probe Bengaluru Stadium Stampede That Killed 11: Karnataka Govt Tells High Court
The court agreed to his request and said that time would be given to the concerned authorities to file their responses and objections.
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