Hathras stampede: The Supreme Court of India today (July 12) refused to entertain a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking direction to appoint a five-member expert committee under the supervision of a retired top court judge to enquire into the Hathras stampede incident where more than 100 people were killed on July 2 (Tuesday).
A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud observes that this is a disturbing incident but it can’t entertain the matter and High Courts are robust courts to deal with such cases. Supreme Court asks the petitioner to approach the High Court with his plea.
"Of course, these are disturbing incidents. This (filing of PIL) is usually done here to make a big deal of such incidents. The high court is equipped to deal with this case.
Dismissed," the bench said.
Move to Allahabad High Court
It asked lawyer and petitioner Vishal Tiwari to move the Allahabad High Court and dispose of the PIL. Tiwari said the issue regarding the non-availability of proper medical facilities to deal with such incidents is a pan India concern and the PIL can be dealt with by the Supreme Court also. The CJI rejected the submission.
The plea had sought the appointment of a five-member expert committee under the supervision of a retired apex court judge to probe the July 2 stampede incident. The stampede took place at a religious congregation in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras district on July 2.
Stampede case in SC
According to the cause list uploaded on the apex court website, the plea was scheduled to come up for hearing before a bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.
The petition, filed by advocate Vishal Tiwari, had sought a direction to the Uttar Pradesh government to submit a status report on the incident and to initiate legal action against the authorities, officials and others for their negligent conduct. It has sought the apex court's direction to the states to issue guidelines to prevent stampede or other incidents for the safety of the public in organising any religious or other events where a large number of people gather.
The stampede at a religious congregation in Hathras left at least 121 people dead. Over 2.5 lakh devotees had gathered in Hathras district's Phulrai village for the 'satsang' conducted by Baba Narayan Hari, who is also known as Saakar Vishwahari and Bhole Baba.
The Uttar Pradesh Police has registered an FIR against the organisers, accusing them of hiding evidence and flouting conditions with 2.5 lakh people gathering for the event in which only 80,000 were permitted.
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