'Servants of RCB': Karnataka govt defends ACP Vikash Kumar's suspension over Bengaluru stampede
The Karnataka High Court bench of Justices SG Pandit and TM Nadaf was hearing the appeals challenging the Central Administrative Tribunal's (CAT) order revoking the suspension of ACP Vikash Kumar.
The suspension order was issued on June 5, a day after nearly 2.5 lakh g Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) fans gathered in and around the Chinnaswamy Stadium for victory celebrations of the RCB maiden IPL trophy-winning campaign. The incident left 11 dead and 56 injured.
Rajagopal told the high court during the hearing, "[When the RCB made last-minute application to hold victory parade]...as if they are servants of RCB, they [certain police officers] started making security arrangements without" asking who gave permission to the organisers to hold the event.
"Commissioner onwards, all start making bandobast [arrangements]. They forget one simple issue, that they have not permitted [such an event]," Rajagopal was quoted by Bar and Bench as saying.
The Karnataka government argued that police were suspended because "there was dereliction of duty.
"They failed to take steps to inform the public about safety measures, that they did not discuss the issue with higher-ups, they caused embarrassment, they did not take steps to systematically hold the event," the government told the court.
Rajagopal, while reading Central Administrative Tribunal's (CAT) order, contended that police "had all the powers to prevent [the tragedy], which they did not do."
The CAT order also stated that police did not have time to organise the huge gathering. It held the RCB responsible for "the huge crowds that showed up outside the stadium — that police were not able to make arrangements on short notice.
Rajagopal further read CAT's observation that police are not "God or Bhagwan or a Magician having magic powers to control the crowds at short notice," Bar and Bench reported.
Rajagopal said the state government never asked police to organise the event.
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