Supreme Court Orders CBI Investigation
The Karur stampede CBI probe was ordered by the Supreme Court after a tragic incident during Vijay’s rally, which claimed 41 lives and injured many.
On Monday, the Supreme Court directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the Karur stampede from last month at actor-politician and TVK president Vijay’s rally. A bench of judges JK Maheshwari and NV Anjaria also entrusted the three-member panel headed by retired Supreme Court judge Ajay Rastogi with conducting the inquiry. The panel will include two IPS officers, presumably from the Tamil Nadu cadre, but not from Tamil Nadu.
High Court’s Handling Raises Questions
The Supreme Court wondered why one judge of the Chennai bench of the Madras High Court had dealt with the issue and passed an order, calling the stampede an incident which “shook the conscience of the nation.” The Madurai bench of the high court had also dismissed a petition for a CBI investigation, but the Chennai bench had ordered an SIT investigation without even listening to TVK, which was only seeking SOP and guidelines for the roadshows.
“Taking suo moto cognisance, ignoring the decision of the Madurai bench, how far is the order of the single judge correct. When the division bench of the Madurai bench was cognisant of the same…. Such recourse prima facie indicates a lack of sensitivity and propriety to deal with such matters, creating multiplicity of proceedings for reasons best known by the judge,” the Supreme Court said.
Details of the Karur Stampede CBI Probe and Crowd Surge
The tragic incident occurred at Vijay’s rally scheduled on September 27; it resulted in 41 deaths and at least 60 injuries. An estimated 30,000 persons attended the event, where only 10,000 seats were available. Security standards were breached, and there was no food Aor water.
The incident occurred when Vijay was delayed in arriving since he was not there until almost 7 pm; this delay led to the pushing crowd getting severely worse. As was reported, people were being pushed into trees, onto the roof of the venue, and onto electric power lines until the police had to cut the power lines to prevent electrocution of people being pushed against power lines. It became especially chaotic for the crowd when Vijay arrived to see the pushing crowd and people throwing slippers up from the pushing crowd, which caused many to faint, as well as prompted the police to lathi charge.
Compensation and Legal Action in Karur Stampede CBI Probe
Later on, Vijay announced compensation for the families of each deceased victim of Rs 20 lakh and each injured person of Rs 2 lakh. He also postponed his scheduled statewide tour and spoke with the grieving families of the deceased and the injured in a video call on October 7. Soon after the incident, TVK Karur West District Secretary Mathiyazhagan was arrested for his duty breaches that led to the described events. Cases have been filed against TVK General Secretary Bussy Anand and Joint General Secretary Nirmal Sekar, who are also on the run.
For more-https://civiclens.in/vijay-karur-rally-stampede/
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