The Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) and DNA Entertainment Network, an event management firm, have questioned a Karnataka government decision to initiate new action against them on the basis of a judicial commission report on the June 4 Bengaluru cricket stadium stampede, where 11 people died.
While DNA Entertainment Network filed a petition in the Karnataka High Court questioning the move to initiate action on the basis of the Justice John Michael D’Cunha report, the KSCA questioned the move during a hearing on Thursday of a suo motu petition taken up by the court over the stampede deaths.
“An inquiry commission appointed by the government under the commission of inquiry has gone into incident. The commission has submitted a report a week ago. The government has now made a media statement that they will initiate action. We are already facing three FIRs on this particular issue, and now one more is being proposed,” Shyam Sundar, the counsel for KSCA, told the high court.
In a writ petition moved on Thursday, the DNA Entertainment Network asked the high court to quash the report of the Justice D’Cunha commission and sought an interim stay on the implementation of the recommendations of the report.
Other parties in the case sought for the commission report to be made available to all parties.
“We will place the report on Tuesday,” Karnataka Advocate General K Shashikiran Shetty told the high court division bench consisting of Chief Justice and Justice C M Joshi.
A meeting of the Karnataka Cabinet headed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday accepted the Justice D’Cunha report and stated that criminal action will be taken on the basis of the recommendations of the report against KSCA, DNA Entertainment Network, Royal Challengers Bengaluru and the Bengaluru police.
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The findings of the Justice D’Cunha report
Based on its findings regarding the stampede at the cricket stadium, the Justice D’Cunha commission has recommended legal action against multiple officials of the RCB, DNA Entertainment Network, the KSCA and the Bengaluru police.
“The Commission finds it necessary to recommend appropriate legal action as per law against the Royal Challengers Sports Pvt Ltd (RCSPL)/RCB, DNA Entertainment Networks Pvt Ltd, and the Karnataka State Cricket Association and in particular, Sri Raghuram Bhat, President KSCA, Sri A Shankar, Ex-Secretary, KSCA, Sri Jairam E S, Ex-Treasurer, KSCA, Sri Rajesh Menon, Vice-President, RCSPL, Dr T. Venkat Vardhan, MD, DNA Entertainment Networks, Sri Sunil Mathur, Vice-President, DNA Entertainment Networks…,” it said.
The commission also sought action to be taken against B Dayananda, IPS, Additional Director General and Commissioner of Police, Vikash Kumar Vikash, IPS, Inspector General and Additional Commissioner of Police, West Bengaluru City, Shekhar H Tekkanavar, IPS, DCP Central Division, C Balakrishna, ACP, Cubbon Park Sub-Division, and Girish A K, Police lnspector.
Incidentally, the Bengaluru police in three FIRs registered on June 5 over the stadium stampede case have already named the RCB, the KSCA and DNA Entertainment Networks as the accused. Two DNA officials and an RCB official who were initially arrested in the case on June 6 have been granted bail, while KSCA officials and other RCB and DNA officials have been granted protection against arrest by the Karnataka High Court.
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The Karnataka government also suspended three IPS officers–Dayananda, Vikash, Tekkanavar—along with two jurisdictional policemen, on June 5.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka Police criminal investigation department is conducting a probe into the criminality involved in the stadium stampede case, where the culpable homicide section has been invoked in the FIR. A magisterial inquiry has also been conducted.
Findings on stadium infrastructure
The judicial commission set up to probe the June 4 stampede has also recommended that no major public events should be held at the stadium till safety measures are installed. The commission has recommended the introduction of several measures at the stadium, including adequate entry and exit gates, integration with public transport facilities, infrastructure for emergency responses, etc., before conducting any future public event.
“Until such infrastructural changes are made, continuing to host high attendance events at the current location poses unacceptable risks to public safety, urban mobility and emergency preparedness,” the judicial commission has said in a recommendation made in a report submitted to Siddaramaiah on July 11.
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The commission report was scheduled to be discussed in the state cabinet on July 17, but was postponed to the July 24 cabinet meeting.
The commission has stated in its report that without addressing “systemic limitations” at the M Chinnaswamy cricket stadium, it would not be appropriate to hold large public events at the stadium.
The report stated that the “commission strongly recommends that stadium authorities consider relocating events that are expected to attract large crowds to venues that are better suited for such large gatherings”.
“The design and structure of the stadium was unsuitable and unsafe for mass gathering. All the entry and exit gates were directly opening into the public footpath. Spacious and organized holding area for crowd were not provided at the entry, as a result, the audience were forced to queue up on the footpath or the road abstracting and endangering the pedestrians and vehicular movements as well as giving scope for the miscreants to join the crowd aggravating the risk especially in the absence of proper security management,” the Justice D’Cunha commission report has stated.