‘Everybody fled scene’: Madras HC slams TVK over Tamil Nadu stampede, sets up SIT

THe Madras heights margaret court on fri called a stampede in Tamil Nadu’s Karur ithiel town endure week a “huge man-made disaster” and said it cannot remain a “mute spectator”, ordering a special investigation team (SIT) led by IPS officer Asra Garg to probe the tragedy that killed 41 people.Justice N Senthilkumar also slammed the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) and its leader, actor-turned-politician Vijay, who was set to address the rally on September 27, and criticised the state police for not arresting members of the party.“This was a huge man-made disaster. The entire world witnessed the unfortunate incident. Everyone right from the President to the Prime Minister has expressed condolences. But the police action does not appear to be adequate,” justice Senthilkumar said.Without taking names, the judge said that the main leader too “fled from the scene of occurrence, and vanished” while his supporters lay dead and injured.“What kind of party is this? Everybody in the party fled from the place. Why has the police not issued any notice to the party...The court highly condemns such an act of the political party especially when children and women have died. You have not even expressed remorse. This shows the mental state of the leader,” justice Senthilkumar said.The tragedy unfolded around 8pm last Saturday at Velusamypuram on the Karur-Erode highway when the surging crowd of over 60,000 broke past barricades as Vijay appeared on stage. Many victims were women and children who had travelled from across western Tamil Nadu to see Vijay, a Tamil cinema icon.Since then, the police have arrested two people even as Vijay has refused to apologise and blamed the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government, which has instituted a judicial probe into the incident.Justice Senthilkumar’s order came on a public interest litigation seeking uniform guidelines for political rallies.On guidelines for rallies, Justice Senthilkumarordered prohibition of political rallies, roadshows and similar public events along state and national highways in the state until Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) were formulated. The government also assured the court that it will not permit any meetings on the state and national highways, except the earmarked places, until the SOPs are finalised.The order came hours after a two-judge bench of the Madurai bench of the Madras high court rejected a batch of petitions seeking independent probes into the stampede. The division bench said that the Tamil Nadu government had already constituted an inquiry and that since the investigation was in a “nascent stage,” it did not think it appropriate to interfere.The Madurai bench, comprising justices M Dhandapani and M Jothiraman, dismissed the pleas, including one filed by TVK member Aadhav Arjuna seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the stampede.In Chennai, the hearing before justice Senthilkumar got underway a few hours later.The court said that it was “agonising” for a sitting judge to see so many lives lost. He questioned the Tamil Nadu police’s action in the aftermath of the tragedy, asking what they had done beyond arresting two individuals. The single judge also questioned why all TVK leaders had abandoned the site.Appearing for the state, additional advocate general J Ravindran argued that it was “easy to blame the Tamil Nadu government” and added that the TVK must be held accountable for the stampede.Ravindran pointed out that the party initially planned its Karur campaign only in December, but suddenly wrote on September 23 seeking permission for a rally on September 27. “They first sought permission for Karur lighthouse roundabout. They gave three choices. Among them, this was the best place and so police granted permission,” he said.The AAG added that police imposed 11 conditions for the rally between 3pm and 7pm. But the TVK tweeted that the event would begin at 12 noon, misleading thousands of supporters. “Believing this, the crowd started arriving early in the morning,” he said.The judge however, was unimpressed and asked if this meant the state did not need to take any precautions. “Does this mean you should not be more cautious and vigilant in assessing the crowd?” he asked.Justice Senthilkumar also flagged videos showing “two-wheelers caught under TVK’s campaign bus.”“The driver witnessed it yet did not stop the bus. Is this not a case of hit and run? Why was no case registered? Police have not taken cognisance of it. How can the state take it lightly?” he asked, adding that the state appeared to be showing “leniency to the organisers.”The judge also questioned why neither the party nor the police had made adequate arrangements, not even for drinking water. The court then proceeded to issue directions to the State government to constitute the SIT.The details of other members of the SIT – beyond Garg, who is currently serving as the state’s inspector general, north zone– are not known yet.Earlier in the day, the single-judge Madurai bench of the Madras high court asked the TVK whether political organisers carry any responsibility towards the public when they gather large crowds, as it heard the anticipatory bail pleas of the party’s general secretary Bussy Anand and deputy general secretary CTR Nirmal Kumar.Justice M Jothiraman reserved orders after hearing extensive arguments from both sides.Senior counsel V Raghavachari, who appeared for the two TVK leaders, insisted that his clients bore no role in the tragedy. Raghavachari argued that neither Anand nor Kumar had any intention to harm the victims, including their own party cadres, and that “an accident cannot be termed culpable homicide.”He instead blamed the Tamil Nadu police for the chaos, saying that officers had failed to provide adequate protection despite being informed in advance of the crowd strength.“If Velusamypuram was objectionable, police should have rejected the application. Instead, they gave us permission just a day before the event and then resorted to a lathi charge,” he said.Raghavachari alleged that the venue was not selected by his clients and that no conditions imposed by the police were breached. “If we had violated any regulation, the police would have issued notice. Not a single policeman has complained that we disobeyed,” he said.The senior counsel also suggested that “certain rowdy elements” and even chemical agents in the crowd created panic, which worsened after the police resorted to a lathi charge.“Why should police lathi charge a waiting crowd? This was the trigger for the stampede,” he argued.Additional advocate general Veera Kathiravan, who appeared for the state government, opposed both the bail petitions. He also pointed out that since Anand was a former MLA, his petition must be heard by the judge holding the MP/MLA portfolio at the principal seat of the high court in Chennai.