The Karnataka High Court on Thursday, June 5, took suo motu cognisance of the stampede that occurred outside Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium during Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s felicitation programme, which left 11 people dead and 56 injured. A bench comprising Acting Chief Justice V Kameswar Rao and Justice CM Joshi ordered issue of notice to the Karnataka government, seeking a detailed status report on the cause of the tragedy and steps taken to prevent similar incidents in the future.
During the hearing, Advocate General Shashi Kiran Shetty, appearing for the State, said that over 2.5 lakh people had gathered near the stadium despite the venue’s capacity being limited to around 35,000. “There was a huge crowd; people not only came from Bengaluru but from around the state and even from outside of the state,” the AG said. He also said that the large turnout was triggered by reports that the event had free entry. “There were ambulances at the incident site, but they were not sufficient due to the unexpected crowd,” he admitted.
The bench pressed the State on whether the organisers had obtained the necessary permissions and what systems were typically in place during IPL matches. Shetty responded that event management, including security, was handled by the RCB franchise and that the State was conducting a magisterial inquiry, with a report expected within 15 days. He added that the State was not taking an adversarial stance in the matter and urged that it not be reduced to "mudslinging."
Senior advocate Arun Shyam, representing several advocates, contended that the incident was a result of “criminal negligence” and criticised the State for allegedly “masking” its failures. He questioned the rationale behind organising a public felicitation for players not representing the country.
"The state has to clarify who has taken the decision to felicitate the RCB players. What is the obligation to felicitate players who are not playing for the country. Why have they conducted the programme at two places—Vidhana Soudha and the Chinnaswamy stadium? What are the steps or safety measures to control the public? It is criminal negligence. Only three gates were opened at the stadium, without there being capacity to accommodate so many people," the counsel argued.
He also asked the State to disclose where ambulances had been deployed and why crowd control had failed so drastically.
After hearing the submissions, the court observed that a Standard Operating Protocol (SOP) must be put in place to handle such large-scale public events and ensure the availability of emergency medical services. The court said it had received communications from several individuals expressing concern over the incident and referred to widespread media coverage of the tragedy. "News items have been published in various newspapers narrating the tragedy… This court taking cognisance of the incident… we issue notice to the State government," the bench said in its order.
The court directed that the matter be registered as a suo motu writ petition and scheduled the next hearing for Tuesday, June 10.