Supreme Court Will List Hathras Stampede Probe Plea For Hearing Soon: CJI

A petition seeking appointment of an expert committee to probe the Hathras stampede will be listed for hearing in the Supreme Court soon, according to Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud. The plea sought a direction from the top court to appoint a retired apex court judge to lead the expert team and to pore over the tragedy, which claimed 121 lives.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it will list for hearing a plea seeking appointment of a five-member expert committee under the supervision of a retired apex court judge to enquire into the Hathras stampede incident, which claimed 121 lives.

Advocate Vishal Tiwari mentioned his petition before a three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and comprising justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra. Tiwari said over hundred people have lost their lives and urged the court to urgently list the petition filed by him. The CJI said he has given orders regarding listing of the petition and it will be listed.

The stampede took place during the address by the religious preacher and his wife at a makeshift tent in the Ratibhanpur village under the Sikandra Rau tehsil of the Hathras district. The plea said such incident prima facie depicts serious lapse of responsibility, negligence, and lack of duty of care towards the public by the government authorities.

The plea said that there exists mechanical failure, lapse, and negligent action on the part of government authorities in not overseeing the security and safety measures regarding the gathering. The plea also sought a direction to the Uttar Pradesh government to submit a status report on the July 2 incident and to initiate legal action against officials and others for their negligent conduct.

The petitioner urged the apex court to issue a direction to all the state governments to submit a status of medical facilities available from the block/tehsil to the district level to deal with incidents of stampede. The petitioner stressed that such incidents have occurred in the past but there is no learning from them, therefore it is important to order an appointment of a judicial commission to investigate and submit a report.

“In India, there is a tradition of large religious gatherings in rural regions. Often, thousands of devotees’ throng to a squeezed place, with no basic facilities-- not even entry or exit points in case of emergency. Sometimes, the organisers of these events lack proper communication with the local authorities. This often resulted in the deadly stampede”, said the plea.

The plea said there are several questions which emerge from this horrific incident of Stampede thereby questioning the duty and lapse of state government and municipal corporation. “From the past decade various incidents have taken place in our country wherein due to the mismanagement, lapse in duty, negligent maintenance activities, there have been cases of huge public casualties which could have been avoided…”, said the plea.

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