The tragedy that took place near Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday was unfortunate. A huge crowd of Royal Challengers Bengaluru fans swarmed to the stadium to join the maiden IPL victory celebration and a stampede broke out near Gate 7. Women and children were crushed to death and many collapsed due to asphyxiation.
While fans were being trampled upon outside the stadium gate, the Karnataka chief minister was busy getting his photos and videos taken with RCB captain Virat Kohli and his team inside the stadium. While screaming fans were crying out for help after being crushed in the stampede 100 meters away, the Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister was getting his reel made carrying the IPL Cup with RCB players.
With no ambulance in sight, desperate fans carried the injured people on their shoulders to nearby hospitals. The organisers of IPL victory celebration knew that a big stampede had broken out, innocent people were dying and those injured were crying out in pain in hospitals, and yet, the celebrations continued inside the stadium.
The deputy chief minister said, there was no lapse on part of his police. He said, police did not know that a huge crowd would descend to the stadium. This remark was like putting salt to the wounds.
Throughout the world, it is the duty of police to keep track of crowds and anticipate the number of people who would converge at a given location. When thousands of RCB fans came out on the streets of Bengaluru on Tuesday night to celebrate their team’s IPL win, it should have been enough for police and authorities to make a fair calculation about the number of people that would come to watch its team carrying the IPL Cup at the victory parade.
On Wednesday morning, when RCB team arrived at Bengaluru airport carrying the IPL Cup, a huge crowd of fans was present. By that time, police could have made an assessment about how many fans would turn out when the victory parade would reach the stadium. By afternoon, a huge crowd of people had already assembled near the Vidhan Soudha. Police could have anticipated what would happen if a crowd bigger than this would try to reach the stadium.
Deputy CM D. K. Shivakumar is an experienced administrator. He should have known the arrangements that should have been put in place. The fact is, both the Chief Minister and Deputy CM were in a hurry to celebrate the victory and get their pictures and videos snapped with Virat Kohli and his team. The celebration was organised in a hurry. Police did not get time to make a proper ‘bandobust’ (arrangement). The unfortunate tragedy took place. Neither the cricket team nor the fans should be blamed for the stampede.
It is the police and administration which is responsible for this tragedy. Accountability must be fixed.