Beyond the crowd: How reckless organising led to the Bengaluru stampede

Human lives, apparently, have little value in India, considering the recurrent tragedies in the country caused by stampedes, in which scores of people are killed. The Maha Kumbh, for instance, had claimed at least 48 lives in stampedes, 18 in a melee that broke out in the New Delhi station among devotees headed for Haridwar, and 30 in a pre-dawn stampede at the Sangam area of the Maha Kumbh as millions of pilgrims jostled for space to take a holy dip on the occasion of Mauni Amavasya, a highly auspicious day of the Hindu calendar.

One of the most horrific incidents of deaths by stampedes had occurred last year in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras, where more than 100 people, including women and children, were killed after a stampede broke out at a satsang (prayer meeting) organised by a self-styled godman, Bhole Baba.

The latest tragedy to have occurred is the one at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, where 11 people were killed and many more injured in a stampede outside the stadium, where lakhs of cricket lovers had gathered to celebrate the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) team's victory in the Indian Premier League (IPL), an enormously popular Twenty-20 cricket tournament.

There are several facets that distinguish this incident from other similar stampedes for one thing, while other stampedes in the past had primarily religious associations, the Bengaluru incident was sports-related.

For another, it was an entirely avoidable tragedy, one that should never have been allowed to occur and which a degree of foresight could have prevented. Preliminary findings indicate that the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), the event organiser DNA Networks, and management of the RCB franchise went ahead with the event despite permission not being given.

They had not anticipated that over three lakh fans would turn up at the 35,000-capacity stadium and did not provide proper facilities or manage the crowd entry. But the biggest catalyst for bringing about such a mammoth turnout was the re-peated post on the RCB social media account about free passes being handed out at the stadium gates. By now, as is always true of our administrations, the stable doors are being shut after the horses have bolted!

The Bengaluru Police have filed a case on their own (suo moto), under five sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including Section 105, which deals with culpable homicide, against the RCB, the KSCA, and DNA Entertainment over the incident.

The State Cabinet met for an emergency session to mull whether the case should be handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department even as it resolved that appropriate "action" would be taken against officials found "responsible" for lapses that led to the stampede. But, these post-stampede actions will hardly serve to bring back the unfortunate victims, mostly young, of what was clearly an avoidable tragedy!