A stampede-like situation happened during a marathon organised by a Congress leader in Uttar Pradesh as part of the party's "ladki hun, lad sakti hun (women can fight)" election campaign. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had first coined the slogan "ladki hun, lad sakti hun" during her last month visit.
In the video, it can be seen that hundreds of women and teenage girls were without masks at the marathon in Bareilly.
The massive crowd of marathon participants filled an entire road. As they started the long run, a few women in the front tripped and fell to the ground, leading to a scare for a brief period of time as more crowds from the rear pushed those in the front.
The situation almost led to a stampede which injured three girls.
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"Permission was given for 200 children. However, the number of those who actually turned up for the event was much higher," City Magistrate Rajiv Pandey said, adding that the incident will be thoroughly probed and action will be initiated against the guilty.
Three girls, who participated in the marathon, were injured and they have been sent to the district hospital, he said.
"What led to the near stampede-like situation? What was the laxity? How a large number of children gathered there, and the permission given by the higher education department are some of the aspects that will be probed," Pandey said.
Local Congress leader and former Bareilly mayor Supriya Aron said, "People had gone to Vaishno Devi on a pilgrimage (on New Year day), what happened there? What will you call it? It is human tendency to race ahead (of others)."
"Here it is girls, who are studying in schools, and a little bit of 'bhaag daurh' took place," she said.
