Chinnaswamy Stadium stampede: 5 highlights from State's report to Karnataka High Court

The State government recently submitted a preliminary status report to the Karnataka High Court on the events surrounding the Chinnaswamy Stadium stampede on June 4.

The report largely echoes the State's arguments before the Court that poor planning by the event's organisers led to the tragedy.

The State had earlier requested the Court to keep this report confidential until a magistrate and judicial commission probing the incident conclude their inquiries.

However, on July 8, the Court directed that the status report be shared with those who are party to a suo motu case initiated in connection with the stampede.

Highlights of this report include the following:

1. Organisers did not take emergency and precautionary measures

The State said that the event organisers had given an impression that they had first-aid arrangements at the stadium to tackle any medical emergencies, but apparently failed to do so.

It said that had the organisers applied well in advance for permission to hold the stadium event, the licencing authorities may have been in a position to gauge if the medical emergency arrangements were sufficient or required to be supplemented. However, this could not be examined since the organisers did not apply for a license to hold the event properly or well in advance.

The State added that as a precautionary measure, it deployed to ambulances and a fire rescue vehicle at the site, along with two medical teams, consisting of doctors and support staff.

“It was the primary duty and responsibility of the Organisers/ RCB/ DNA/ KSCA to provide medical facility which was completely neglected by them despite the knowing the importance of such arrangements," the report said.

2. State did not have enough time to estimate crowd

The State has said that it did carry out a reasonable assessment about the number of people who may gather at such an event. However, the crowds that gathered on June 4 swelled up unexpectedly.

"The City Police were not afforded reasonable time to make a practical estimate of the potential crowd size," the status report added.

3. No precise information on the how much time was taken to attend to injured

Responding to a query posed by the Court on this aspect, the State has said,

"With regard to the medical attention provided by medical experts at the venue to the injured, and the time taken to transport the injured to hospitals, precise information on these aspects is the subject of an ongoing enquiry and will be submitted in due course, as it is not presently available."

However, the State also submitted a table with details of the deceased and/or injured victims taken to hospitals based on medico-legal information slips from the hospitals, to indicate the time at which they reached hospitals.

4. Details on police and security personnel deployed before and after the event

The State revealed that 654 traffic personnel were deployed as part of traffic control measures ahead of the June 4 event.

It added that it had issued traffic advisories to the public and identified diversion points along the victory parade route. Schools were also advised to close early, by 12 PM. Further a dedicated control room was set up.

After the stampede unfolded, 20 additional Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) platoons were deployed with a total of 440 men and officers; 200 trainee staff were deployed to evacuate the crowd from the stadium; and over 600 officers and staff, including 6 DCPs, were summoned from Vidhana Soudha and en route sectors to Chinnaswamy Stadium, the State said.

“All the police station inspectors of Bengaluru city were instructed by the Commissioner of Police to come immediately to the stadium along with the available staff and attend to the crowd management."

5. New crowd control policy

The State said that it is in the process of issuing a new policy that is specifically aimed at crowd control at events that are likely to see large crowds, in addition to the Licencing and Controlling of Assemblies and Processions (Bangalore City) Order, 2009 and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) guidelines.

The suo motu case before the High Court is scheduled to be heard next on July 16 (tomorrow).