Three-member judicial commission to probe Hathras stampede
After Yogi’s announcement, commission headed by retired Allahabad high court judge formed and tasked with completing investigation in two months.
Hours after chief minister Yogi Adityanath visited Hathras and made the announcement about a judicial probe, the Uttar Pradesh government on Wednesday night constituted a three-member judicial inquiry commission to investigate the stampede in which 121 people died at a satsang (religious event) addressed by self-styled preacher Narayan Saakar Hari alias Bhole Baba on Tuesday.
The commission is headed by Justice Brijesh Kumar Srivastava (II), a retired judge of the Allahabad high court. The notification to this effect was issued by governor Anandiben Patel on Wednesday. The commission has been tasked with completing the investigation within two months from the date of this notification.
The probe will cover various aspects of the tragedy, “whether this incident is an accident or a conspiracy or the possibility of any other planned criminal incident.”
Retired IAS and IPS officers Hemant Rao and Bhavesh Kumar Singh, respectively, have been appointed members of the commission that will have its headquarters in Lucknow.
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The commission will submit its report to the state government.
It will investigate the organiser’s compliance with the permission granted by the district administration and the conditions mentioned therein, the statement said.
Additionally, the commission will examine crowd control and law and order arrangements by the administration and the police during the event, along with related aspects. It will also analyse the reasons and circumstances leading to the incident. Furthermore, the commission will provide recommendations to prevent such incidents from happening in the future.
“The judicial commission shall complete the inquiry within a period of two months from the date of issue of this notification. Any change in its period may be made on the orders of the state government,” said additional chief secretary, Deepak Kumar.
Earlier in the day in Hathras, Yogi Adityanath said the first priority of the state government was to carry out relief and rescue work.
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“The organisers of the satsang will be called for interrogation and they will be asked about the reasons for the incident. The accountability for the negligence and the responsibility of those involved in the incident will be fixed... If it is an accident, then who is responsible for it and if it is not an accident then who are involved in the conspiracy? Looking at all these aspects, the state government has decided for a judicial inquiry into the incident,” he said.
He made it clear that whoever is responsible for the Hathras accident will be punished. No culprit will be spared, the state government will get to the bottom of this entire incident, he said.
The arrangements for the entire event were made by the sevadars (volunteers) associated with the event, while the administration had made police arrangements outside, but immediately after the accident, the sevadars fled the spot, the chief minister said.
They did not even make arrangements to take people to hospital after the accident, he added.
“To probe the entire incident, we have constituted an SIT (Special Investigation Team) under the chairmanship of ADG Agra, which has given its preliminary report. She (ADG Agra Anupam Kulshreshtha) has been asked to get to the bottom of this incident. There are many such aspects, which are very important to investigate.”
Read Here | 'Bhole Baba didn't allow photos to be clicked, kept phones of devotees': NCW chief on Hathras stampede
On the question of no FIR against the preacher Bhole Baba, the chief minister said, “Prima facie, FIR is lodged against those who had sought permission for the application. During the probe, when the scope increases, all those who are responsible for this incident will come under the scanner.”
The chief minister said three ministers Lakshmi Narayan Chaudhary, Sandeep Singh and Asim Arun, chief secretary Manoj Kumar Singh and director general of police Prashant Kumar are camping at the spot with other senior police and administration officers.
“All are working to fix the accountability of those responsible for this incident. The state government has constituted special teams that will visit various districts to take forward the investigation and action against the culprits. After the preliminary investigation, we will work to take forward the action against those responsible fore the incident,” he said.
Terming the incident sad and painful, the chief minister said, the state government will go to the bottom of the entire incident.
The deceased are from Uttar Pradesh, as well as Haryana, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
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Devotees from 16 districts in U.P. were among the victims.
These districts include Hathras, Badaun, Kasganj, Aligarh, Etah, Lalitpur, Agra, Firozabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Mathura, Auraiya, Bulandshahr, Pilibhit, Sambhal and Lakhimpur Kheri. Out of 121 deceased, six were from other states, including one from Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh), four from Haryana and one from Rajasthan. Among the injured, 31 are being treated in hospitals in Hathras, Aligarh, Etah and Agra and all are out of danger, he said.
The chief minister said when he visited the hospital, the injured there told him that the accident happened when the convoy of the katha vachak (preacher) reached GT Road after the programme and a group of women moved towards him to touch him.
A crowd followed them, climbing over one another, the injured told the chief minister, adding the sevadars pushed the people leading to a stampede on both sides of GT Road.
The saddest aspect of this was that the sevadars who do not allow the administration to enter during such programmes, tried to supress the accident, the chief minister said. When the administration started moving the injured to the hospital, majority of the sevadars fled from the spot, he said.
Hitting out at the opposition parties, the chief minister said some people have a tendency to indulge in politics even in sad and painful incidents.
Such people have arrogance even after indulging in malpractices, he said.
“People know with whom the ‘katha vachak’ has photos, who has political relations with him. You must be aware where such stampedes used to happen during rallies in the past and who was behind it. I think it is necessary to get to the bottom of all the aspects. Those who play with the lives of innocent people should be held accountable,” he said.
The state government will make arrangements for the education of the minor children of the innocent people who died in the accident under the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Bal Seva Yojana, he said.
Together, the Centre and the State are providing assistance of ₹4 lakh each to the families of the deceased in the accident and an assistance of ₹1 lakh to the injured, he said.
Earlier, after arriving in Hathras, the chief minister held a review meeting regarding the incident at the Hathras police headquarters.
He saw a presentation by the police about the incident and gave instructions for appropriate action. The officers updated the CM about the information collected by the administration regarding the incident.
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