THE JHARKHAND STORY DESK
New Delhi, July 12: The Supreme Court declined to hear a petition on Friday seeking an investigation into the Hathras stampede case. The SC asked the petitioner to approach the Allahabad High Court.
The stampede, which occurred on July 2 in the Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh, resulted in the deaths of 121 people.
HC competent to handle such matters: SC
The bench, comprising CJI D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice J.B. Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra, stated that such incidents are distressing, but the High Court is competent to handle such matters.
The bench acknowledged that these incidents are indeed distressing and noted that petitions are often filed to make such incidents a big issue. The bench asserted that the High Court is capable of handling such matters and dismissed the petition.
The court advised lawyer and petitioner Vishal Tiwari to approach the Allahabad High Court for a hearing on his petition demanding an investigation into the Hathras stampede.
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Tiwari emphasized that the lack of adequate medical facilities to handle such incidents is a nationwide concern and argued that the Supreme Court could also consider hearing the matter. The CJI rejected this argument of the petitioner.
The petitioner had appealed to appoint a five-member expert committee under the supervision of a retired Supreme Court judge to investigate the stampede incident that took place at a Satsang held on July 2 in Phulrai village of Hathras district resulting in deaths of 121 persons.
SIT held organisers responsible in its report
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the stampede incident during a Satsang in Sikandrarao of Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh has held the organizers and officials guilty in its report.
The team found that the organizers did not make adequate arrangements to manage the crowd.
The report included statements from 119 people, including police stationed at the event site and the families of the victims.
Based on the report, the state government on July 9 suspended six people including the concerned Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) and Police Circle Officer (CO).
According to officials, the organizers had sought permission for 80,000 devotees to attend the sermon, and the administration made arrangements accordingly. However, more than 250,000 devotees attended the event. The organizers hid the actual number of attendees from the police.
