Accountability must be fixed on Chinnaswamy Stadium Stampede

It is certainly in the fitness of things that the Karnataka High Court on June 5, 2025 has decided to register a suo motu case over the stampede that took place on June 4, 2025 outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium at Bengaluru while revelling in joy to celebrate Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) maiden victory in IPL-2025 and sought a status report on this most pressing matter from the State of Karnataka. It claimed the lives of 11 people and about 66 injured! What is most hurting, saddening, devastating and shocking is that all of them were young men and women who were under 30 years either pursuing their college studies mostly or newly engaged in some job like civil engineer and Chartered Accountant! The message from the families of those who lost their young children was very loud and clear: This tragedy could definitely have been prevented and those who are responsible must be punished most strictly and accountability must be fixed on all those who are responsible for this chaotic state of affairs that led to loss of so many promising young talent so early in life!

In this regard, it would be pertinent to note that a Division Bench of Karnataka High Court comprising of Acting Chief Justice Hon’ble Mr Justice V Kameshwar Rao and Hon’ble Mr Justice CM Joshi while taking suo motu cognizance asked the Karnataka State Government whether permissions had been sought to organize such celebrations, whether a standard operating procedure existed for managing crowds above 50,000 and if immediate medical help was extended. The Karnataka Advocate General – Mr KM Shashikiran briefed the court on this in detail. It will be heard now on June 10 after perusing the status report as will be submitted by the State of Karnataka. What is most shocking is that the stadium which had capacity of just about 30,000 as told by the Karnataka State Government to the Court and yet about 3 lakh people reportedly gathered near the stadium after announcements of free public entry to the celebratory event for Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

 As things stands, the Division Bench also directed the government to file a comprehensive status report addressing nine specific questions by June 10. Those nine questions are as follows:-

1.      Who decided to hold the victory celebration?

In what manner and when?

2.      Was any permission sought to organize the event?

3.      And whether any SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) has been formulated to manage a crowd of 50,000 and above in any sports event and celebrations of this nature?

4.      What steps were taken to regulate the traffic?

5.      What steps were taken to regulate the public/crowd?

6.      What medical and other facilities were arranged at the venue?

7.      Was any assessment made in advance on the number of people, who may be present at the time of celebrations?

8.      Whether persons injured were given immediate medical attention by the medical experts at the venue? If not why?

9.      How much time was taken to take the injured to the hospitals?

Needless to say, no money and no inquiry and no punishment can ever bring back those lost young lives who had just started to kickstart their lives which makes this particular incident most saddening! But still it merits just no reiteration that accountability must definitely be fixed and it brooks no delay in such cases like this! Those who are responsible for this most unsavoury incident must definitely be brought to book.

Truth be told, there are many key questions that crop up and swirl about this most unwarranted tragedy which has regrettably claimed so many young and most promising lives! Some questions of which I am mentioning here and they are as follows:-

1.            Who decided to hold celebrations the very next day?

2.            Did RCB or KSCA or Karnataka State Government or all unitedly decide to hold the celebrations the very next day?

3.            Who decided to hold two celebrations?

4.            Who organized the Chinnaswamy celebrations?

5.            Who applied for police permission?

6.            Did police say no to the stadium event?

7.            Did they want RCB to wait a few days?

8.            If the police said no to the victory parade, how come RCB tweeted about it?

9.            Why police did not make any objections to the tweet?

10.     Did police issue advisory on not holding the event?

11.     Who decided that passes would be free which resulted in huge rush?

12.     Was it communicated in time about free pass?

13.     When did the first death get reported?

14.     Why did the Vidhana Soudha celebrations continue if the crowds had already swelled at the stadium?

15.     Why, to say the very least, weren’t there adequate ambulances and medical arrangements also for such a big mega event?

16.     Why many senior police officers were not present?

17.     Why was it decided to go ahead with the second event after news of the stampede?

18.     Was the second event more important than the lives of the innocents?

19.     What traffic and crowd regulations were in place?

20.     Whether medical arrangements were made in advance?

21.     Whether those injured were given timely medical attention?

22.     Was it because of police lathicharge that stampede occurred?

23.     Who was the police officer who ordered lathicharge?

24.     Was police lathicharge necessary?

25.     Did the police department issue necessary safety directions?

26.     Did the organizers worked within the framework of the directions that had been issued by the police department?

27.     Why such a huge crowd was allowed to assemble at the first place which culminated in death of so many innocent lives?

28.     Why additional police was not called into action considering the huge crowd of more than 3 lakh people to manage them effectively?

29.  Why there was delay in providing medical aid to the injured?

30.  Why safety measures were not taken as required when such a mega event is held?

31.  Why there was poor crowd management at entry and exit points?

32.  Why all 21 gates were not opened?

33.  Finally and far most significantly, why was it that, “Only three gates of the stadium were opened and stampede occurred only at Gate Nos. 3, 12 and 18 where there was lot of jostling among fans to enter or climb barriers and all death occurred there?

 Having said this, it is definitely in the fitness of things that while taking most prompt action, the Chief Minister of Karnataka – Mr Siddaramaiah has announced that Bengaluru Police Commissioner B. Dayananda and all the officials responsible for the jurisdiction where the stadium is have been suspended, pending inquiry. What also merits mentioning is that CM Siddaramaiah also announced a judicial inquiry by a one-man Commission that is led by former Karnataka High Court Judge – Hon’ble Mr Justice (Retd) Michael D’ Cunha who enjoys an absolute impeccable reputation and who came into huge prominence in 2014 when as the Special Judge trying cases against lawmakers, he displayed the guts, gall and gumption to convict the then most powerful Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in a disproportionate assets case. It must be noted that CM also had informed the press also about the decision that had been taken at the State Cabinet Meeting that was held on June 5, 2025 to probe into this most unfortunate incident. Very rightly so!

 It must be also laid bare here that the police invoked Sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 115 (voluntarily causing hurt), 118 (voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt by using dangerous weapons or means), 121 (voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 190 (liability of members of an unlawful assembly for offences committed in pursuit of a common object), 132 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from discharging their duty), and 125 (12) (acts endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. We thus see that soon after the astounding stampede incident, the Cubbon Park Police have registered an FIR (Crime No. 123/2025) that has been lodged against RCB franchise, DNA Entertainment Private Limited which is the event management company and so also the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) charging them for “culpable homicide and other serious charges” as mentioned hereinaforesaid. What also sources in the media reported is that even as the city police claimed that Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) conducted the event at the stadium despite being denied police permission, it came to light that the security deployment at the venue was inadequate and senior officials in charge were not present on site when the stampede occurred. It would be instructive to note that this high profile case has now been formally transferred to the CID by the Karnataka State Government with directions to constitute the Special Investigating Team (SIT) for further action.

 It also merits mentioning that it is pointed out in the FIR that, “The first information of a victory celebration came at 6 pm on June 3, even before the first ball had been bowled at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad, when RCB CEO Shubhash Ghante allegedly asked for a victory celebration programme to be held at the Chinnaswamy Stadium the next day. The Vidhana Soudha event passed off peacefully but at Chinnaswamy Stadium, the organizers ‘failed to make decisions about allowing fans inside the stadium’ and closed the gates from the inside at 3.10 pm.” It was also confirmed that the programme began inside the stadium at 5.45 pm – long after the first body was taken to a city hospital.

 It is also pointed out in the FIR as reported in media that, “DNA, KSCA administrative committee, and RCB franchise failed to take proper decisions about M Chinnaswamy Cricket Stadium entry at the right time, causing confusion among thousands of RCB fans, leading to thousands of fans gathering uncontrollably, attempting to break barriers, set up by police for entry, ignoring police advice and not following instructions pushing police and causing injuries, disrupting public traffic, causing 11 deaths.”

 All said and done, it must be without fail underscored again at the risk of repetition that those who are guilty of being complacent in ensuring the safety of people who had gathered for watching the victory parade must be brought to book immediately and so also must be certainly made to face the legal action for their glaring lapses that led to the most unfortunate stampede in which all young men and women below 30 years of age lost their most precious lives which cannot come back to life again! It is a no-brainer that all the political parties must also definitely refrain from making political capital out of it and should trust the judiciary to deliver most firmly and wait patiently instead of trying to fish in troubled waters! Of course, this is certainly not the right moment to score political brownie points and it is beyond a straw of doubt that the whole nation must definitely stand fully united in this hour of extreme grief just like we stood so firmly speaking in one voice after the most ghastly Pahalgam terror attack in Kashmir and so also full focus should be ostensibly to figure out the reasons as to what went wrong which culminated in such a deadly stampede!

 No doubt, if right lessons are not taken from this unsavoury episode and corrective and safety measures are not implemented most promptly in not just Karnataka where this horrifying tragedy occurred but all over India most strictly, such ghastly incidents are undoubtedly bound to recur time and again! It also must be underscored that this ghastly incident is a stark reminder that no matter how much we be happy on a team winning any cup even the world cup itself, we should never be so over excited as to lose our balance or drop our guard down which will only land us in deepest trouble dragging us to the jaws of death as most unfortunately happened in Bengaluru and victory march should take place if at all only after few days and not most promptly as happened in Bengaluru! There can be definitely just no denying or disputing it!

Sanjeev Sirohi
Advocate