Madurai : The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court came down heavily on Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) leaders in connection with the Karur stampede, observing that party chief Vijay fled from the scene of occurrence and that the party had not even expressed remorse. Justice Senthilkumar questioned both the organisers and the police over responsibility, asking, “As an event organiser, don’t you have any responsibility?
The bench ordered the constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Asra Garg to probe the incident while reserving orders on the anticipatory bail petitions filed by TVK leaders Bussy Anand and CTR Nirmal Kumar. The court is simultaneously considering a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking to restrain the Home Secretary and the Director General of Police from granting permission for road shows until comprehensive guidelines or standard operating procedures (SOPs) are in place.
Senior counsel V Raghavachari, appearing for Anand and Nirmal Kumar, contended that the petitioners had no intention of harming their own cadres and argued that the incident could not be treated as culpable homicide. He accused the police of failing to provide adequate protection, noting that the venue was not chosen by the petitioners. Raghavachari argued that the petitioners had complied with regulations and pointed out that permission was granted only a day before the event.
The responsibility of managing the crowd lies entirely with the State, he said, insisting that the gathering was orderly until police intervention. The Additional Advocate General (AAG) J Ravindran countered that TVK itself had misled the crowd by tweeting that the event would begin at 12 noon, although police permission was granted for 3 pm to 7 pm.
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