Hathras stampede: The death count in the devastating stampede at a religious congregation in the Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh has increased to 121 and has left 28 injured, said the Office of the Relief Commissioner on Wednesday. Barring seven children and a man, all the casualties were women.
However, the congregation or 'satsang' conductor Jagat Guru Saakar Vishwahari has not been named in the FIR though his name is in the complaint.
Devotees had come to the 'satsang' from various districts of Uttar Pradesh as well as neighbouring states. The victims were part of the crowd of thousands that had gathered near Phulrai village in the Sikandrarau area for the 'satsang' by religious preacher Bhole Baba.
FIR against organisers of religious congregation
Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh Police on Wednesday registered an FIR against the organisers of the religious congregation in Hathras. 'Mukhya sevadar' Devprakash Madhukar and other organisers have been named in the first information report (FIR) filed at the Sikandara Rao police station late Tuesday.
The FIR has been registered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 110 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 126 (2) (wrongful restraint), 223 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by the public servant), 238 (causing disappearance of evidence).
As per the FIR, The organisers allegedly hid evidence and violated conditions by allowing a gathering of 2.5 lakh people for the event, despite only 80,000 being permitted.
The FIR alleged that the organisers hid the actual number of devotees coming to the 'satsang' while seeking permission, did not cooperate in traffic management and hid evidence after the stampede, which broke out after people gathered there stopped to collect mud from the way the baba's vehicle was passing.
The FIR apparently gave a clean chit to the police and administration, saying they did whatever possible from the available resources.
The organisers sought permission for about 80,000 people for which police and administration made arrangements. However, over 2.5 lakh people gathered in the event. By not following the conditions of the permission, GT road witnessed traffic jam and police and administration officials were working to clear it, the FIR said.
Here's how accident happened
According to the FIR, the baba, who was the main speaker of the satsang came out at about 2 pm in his vehicle and devotees started collecting mud from there. Due to the uncontrollable crowd leaving the venue, devotees sitting on the ground were crushed. On the other side of the road, the crowd running in the water and mud-filled fields was forcibly stopped by the organising committee with sticks, due to which the pressure of the crowd kept increasing and women, children, and men kept getting crushed.
Despite the pressure of the crowd, the police and administration officials did everything possible and sent the injured from the available resources to hospitals, the FIR said and added that the organisers and 'sevadars' did not cooperate.
The organisers tried to hide the actual number of people coming to the event by hiding evidence and throwing slippers and other belongings of the devotees in crops in nearby fields, the FIR said.
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