Embarrassment no ground for suspension over stampede: Cop

The submission made by Vikash came in response to the state government’s claim that the police had made security arrangements for an event that had no official permission

IPS officer Vikash Kumar Vikash on Friday told the Karnataka high court that his suspension following the June 4 stampede at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru was a “classic case of damned if you do and damned if you don’t” as he objected to the state’s submission that the police officials suspended over the incident had caused an “embarrassment” to the government.

11 people were killed in the June 4 stampede outside the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru. (AFP)

The submission made by Vikash’s counsel, senior advocate Dhyan Chinappa, came in response to the state government’s claim that the police had made security arrangements for an event that had no official permission, effectively blaming its own force for the stampede.

“They (state) ask why did the police make bandobast? Is that the stand of the government? The government said in the suo motu proceedings that we had done everything possible, that they had deployed police officials at every point etc. And now they say something totally different,” Chinappa said.

“Entire police force was out on the streets as people were celebrating. Everyone knows who went to the airport etc,” Chinappa said in an apparent reference to Karnataka deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar receiving the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) team at the HAL airport hours before the stampede on June 4.

“If I do arrange bandobast, you find fault. If I don’t, you still find fault. It is the classic case of damned if you do and damned if you don’t,” Chinappa said.

He also objected to the state’s submission that the suspended police officers had caused “embarrassment” to the government, and that they failed to discuss the matter with higher ups before making the security arrangements for the victory celebrations.

He told a bench of justices SG Pandit and TM Nadaf that embarrassment caused to the government cannot qualify as a legally valid reason to suspend the police officers.

The senior advocate reiterated that a huge crowd gathered outside the stadium and subsequent events, including the stampede, were all events of “unprecedented magnitude” and the police tried to do everything possible to handle the situation.

Chinappa made the submissions while opposing the appeal filed by the Karnataka government challenging a July 1 order passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) quashing Vikash’s suspension.

The tribunal criticised the state for acting without due process and ordered that Vikash, who was removed as the additional police commissioner after the stampede, be reinstated immediately. It had said that police had no prior notice of RCB’s victory parade, which triggered the stampede and had instead blamed RCB for unilaterally announcing the event via Instagram without informing the authorities.

The tribunal had ordered the state to immediately reinstate Vikash and suggested it extend the same relief to the other four suspended officers as well.

The high court will continue hearing arguments on the state’s appeal on July 21.