Suspending police officers for Karnataka stampede looks like scapegoating: Think tank
New Delhi, The suspension of five police officers before the completion of a detailed investigation into the RCB victory celebrations-linked stampede in Karnataka would be seen as "scapegoating" and may have a "demoralising" effect on the entire force, an independent think tank on policing has told the state chief minister.
The Delhi-based Indian Police Foundation has also said "isolating" the police force for "punitive" action, while other stakeholders escape scrutiny, distorts the reality of shared responsibility and "misses" the opportunity to draw "comprehensive" lessons for the future.
The June 4 stampede outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru led to the death of 11 people, while 56 were injured, as a large number of people thronged to participate in the Royal Challenger Bengaluru team's IPL victory celebrations.
The Karnataka government has suspended Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda and four other senior police officials on the charge of dereliction of duty.
The state government has also appointed a one-man inquiry commission under retired Karnataka High Court judge John Michael Cunha to probe the incident.
The IPF, a private think tank on policing subjects with a number of retired police chiefs and civil servants on its panel, wrote a two-page letter to Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday.
The letter, accessed by PTI, said the suspension of the five police officials has raised "serious concerns" within the professional policing community across the country.
"Actions taken without establishing individual responsibility would be seen as scapegoating rather than principled accountability and may have a demoralising effect on the entire police force, while undermining institutional integrity," the IPF said.
Large public events of this nature, it said, especially when held at such a short notice and without adequate time for preparatory work, require "coordinated" efforts among multiple civic, administrative and political agencies.
The think tank urged the Karnataka government to "reinstate" the suspended officers and said disciplinary action, if warranted, should follow from the findings and not precede those.
The IPF also offered the services of its multi-disciplinary expert members for conducting a post-incident review and analysis of the stampede.
"This would be a non-adversarial, independent exercise, not intended for fault-finding, but focused on identifying systemic gaps, good practices and actionable lessons to guide police operations and training," it said.
The foundation offered condolences to the bereaved families and said it fully supports a fair, impartial and transparent inquiry into the tragedy.
Former Union home secretary G K Pillai, former Meghalaya governor and retired IPS officer R S Mooshahary, former HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh, former Uttar Pradesh DGP O P Singh and former CBI director Rishi Kumar Shukla are among the IPF members.
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