Karnataka HC Appoints Amicus Curiae in Bengaluru stampede case

THe mysore heights margaret court on mon prescribed senior advocate S Susheela as the amicus curiae to assist the court in the suo motu proceedings it has initiated following the deadly stampede outside the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru on June 4 that killed 11 and injured several others. A bench of acting chief justice V Kameswar Rao and justice CM Joshi said that the amicus curiae must also assist the court on whether the status report filed by the Karnataka government on the stampede in a sealed cover must be kept confidential or whether its contents deserve to be made public. The court directed the state to provide a copy of its status report and all other relevant documents to advocate Susheela, so that she can file her statement of objections. The June 4 stampede took place ahead of IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)’s victory celebration and the high court had initiated suo motu proceedings into the case on June 5. It had posed nine questions to the state government at the time, including who had authorised the event, how crowd control and emergency care had been handled, and whether any prior assessment had been made of the expected turnout. The state that has since maintained that RCB was solely responsible for the large crowd at the stadium and the consequent stampede, had filed its response to the court’s questions in a sealed envelope claiming its answers contained sensitive information and could “prejudice some third parties”.Advocate General Shashi Kiran Shetty has repeatedly argued that the contents of the state’s status report should remain in a sealed cover at least until the ongoing magisterial and a one-man judicial commission inquiries into the case are complete. However, several other lawyers, including those impleaded as parties in the suo motu PIL, have urged the court to make the contents of the report public since the state was accountable to the members of the public.The Bengaluru police has also registered three suo motu FIRs following the stampede and named RCB, event management DNA Entertainment, and the Karnataka State Cricket Association in the FIRs. All three entities have moved the court seeking the FIRs against them be quashed. The state has claimed that the stampede had taken place as RCB announced free entry passes for its victory parade at the stadium following its IPL victory. It has maintained that the entire celebration event was illegal as RCB or DNA had neither sought any requisite permissions, nor implemented safety measures to handle large crowds. The stampede occurred when, on June 4, millions of people gathered at the stadium hoping to watch RCB’s victory celebrations. As per the state, while the stadium can accommodate a maximum of 30,000 people, at least 200,000 people had gathered at the spot.