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Day after stampede, thousands gather to worship deities in Puri
In view of Monday's incident, barricades have been erected in front of the Shree Gundicha temple and different queues made for the smooth darshan of the deities at 'Adapa Mandap' (the podium on which the deities are seated) situated inside the temple, a senior police officer said.
"We are alert... by the grace of the Lord, everything is running smoothly. Devotees are entering the Shree Gundicha Temple without any hassle," said Soumendra Priyadarshi, an ADG-rank IPS officer who has been assigned the responsibility of overseeing the police arrangement during Rath Yatra.
He was assigned the task by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi after the stampede.
Devotees believe that they can wash away their sins if they have darshan of Lord Jagannath atop the 'Adapa Mandap'.
At least three persons, including two women, were killed and around 50 others injured in a stampede near Shree Gundicha temple in Puri on Sunday morning during a ceremony related to the ongoing Rath Yatra festivities, officials said.
The incident took place around 4.20 am when thousands of devotees had gathered near the chariots parked in front of the temple, they said.
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Indian Express
2 hours ago
- Indian Express
From RG Kar to law college rape case, crisis in Trinamool deepens as Opposition turns up heat
On June 25, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee arrived in Digha to oversee preparations for the first Rath Yatra at the newly built Jagannath temple in the seaside town. On the same day, a 24-year-old student was allegedly raped at a Kolkata law college – barely 10 months after the rape- murder of a junior doctor at the city's R G Kar Medical College and Hospital sparked widespread protests and cornered the Trinamool Congress-led government. The TMC has now again found itself on the back foot after the Kolkata Police arrested four men in the law college rape case, including Manojit Misra, former leader of the TMC's student wing Trinamool Chhatra Parishad. After the rape-murder at R G Kar in August 2024, major protests had broken out across Bengal, which were led by members of the medical community. Under pressure and after a series of meetings with agitating doctors, Mamata was forced to accept their demands, including the transfer of Kolkata Police and state health department officials. Now, just ahead of the anniversary of the R G Kar outrage, the law college rape case has come as another jolt for the TMC. The main accused Misra, who was also a contractual staffer at the college, is a former Trinamool Chhatra Parishad general secretary in South Kolkata. He has at least five previous cases pending against him, including for attempt to murder, sexual assault and extortion, prompting questions from the Opposition on why no police action was taken against him earlier. However, within hours of the college rape case coming to light, the TMC jumped to distance itself from the main accused as it faced attacks from the Opposition. Trinamool Chhatra Parishad state president Trinankur Bhattacharya said, 'We are not denying he was with the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad in the past. For the last few years, the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad does not have any unit in the college (where the rape occurred). He was one of the organisational secretaries. There are 80-100 people in that post across all the districts. In 2022, a new committee was formed and he was not included in the committee.' TMC leader Kunal Ghosh said, 'We are not defending the incident. But the BJP and the CPI(M) have no right to speak on this issue. Their hands are full with such crimes.' The TMC, though, continues to face backlash from the R G Kar case – in which the CBI arrested only the main accused Sanjay Ray and ruled out the involvement of others including senior hospital staff. The victim's father has been upset with the CBI enquiry for 'failing' to investigate the 'larger conspiracy' behind her rape-murder. The TMC leadership however does not believe that the party would face the same level of backlash in the college rape case as in the R G Kar matter. 'In the R G Kar rape-murder case, police had not acted properly and the administration had many faults. But in this case, the police swiftly acted and arrested all the culprits. So, it is not like the R G Kar case. In this case, the main accused tarnished our party's image though. We have to overcome that,' a senior TMC leader said. But against this backdrop, the TMC has drawn more flak following controversial remarks made by veteran party MLA Madan Mitra and its Lok Sabha MP Kalyan Banerjee. In his reaction to the college rape case, Kalyan said, 'If a friend rapes a friend, how can you ensure security? Will the police be there in schools? This was done by students to another student. Who will protect (the victim)?' Mitra further stoked controversy, saying that 'This incident has sent a message to girls that if someone calls you when the college is closed, don't go, nothing good will come of it. If that girl had not gone there, this incident wouldn't have happened.' While Mitra has been issued a show-cause notice by the TMC following his comments, the party has also 'dissociated' itself from both the leaders' remarks, which it said were made in their 'personal capacities'. Late on Monday, Mitra issued an apology in his reply to the show-cause notice. After TMC MP Mahua Moitra castigated both Kalyan and Mitra, accusing them of 'misogyny', Kalyan shot back, saying Moitra is 'anti-women' and had 'broken up a family of 40 years and married a 65-year-old guy'. TMC insiders said party supremo Mamata Banerjee is 'displeased' with such statements by senior leaders, particularly at a time of crisis. 'Madan and other leaders are being warned against causing the (college rape case) crisis to deepen by making such loose comments, that too a month before the first anniversary of the R G Kar rape-murder,' a senior minister said. But after taking on the TMC over the R G Kar row, the Opposition parties have also seized on the fresh case to gun for Mamata. The BJP has constituted a four-member fact-finding team on the law college rape case. The team, formed on the directive of BJP national president J P Nadda, arrived in Kolkata Monday. It includes Rajya Sabha MP and former Tripura CM Biplab Kumar Deb, former Union Minister Satyapal Singh, ex-Union minister Meenakshi Lekhi, and Rajya Sabha MP Manan Kumar Mishra. 'The CM (Mamata) sends delegations to Hathras and Pahalgham, but when the Opposition comes to Bengal, they are stopped. Women are not safe here, not even law students,' Deb alleged. Atri Mitra is a Special Correspondent of The Indian Express with more than 20 years of experience in reporting from West Bengal, Bihar and the North-East. He has been covering administration and political news for more than ten years and has a keen interest in political development in West Bengal. Atri holds a Master degree in Economics from Rabindrabharati University and Bachelor's degree from Calcutta University. He is also an alumnus of St. Xavier's, Kolkata and Ramakrishna Mission Asrama, Narendrapur. He started his career with leading vernacular daily the Anandabazar Patrika, and worked there for more than fifteen years. He worked as Bihar correspondent for more than three years for Anandabazar Patrika. He covered the 2009 Lok Sabha election and 2010 assembly elections. He also worked with News18-Bangla and covered the Bihar Lok Sabha election in 2019. ... Read More
The Print
2 hours ago
- The Print
Quashing IPS officer's suspension over Bengaluru stampede, CAT says ‘cops don't have Aladdin's lamp'
The tribunal documented that the suspension order was mechanical in nature and lacked any 'convincing materials'. The Bengaluru bench was deciding the petition of Vikash Kumar, who challenged his suspension by the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in the wake of the stampede in Bengaluru that claimed at least 11 lives. New Delhi: Remarking that police personnel are also human beings, and neither god nor magicians who can ensure crowd control measures for lakhs of people at short notice, the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) Tuesday quashed Karnataka government's order suspending IPS officer Vikash Kumar Vikash for alleged dereliction of duty in connection with a stampede outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium on 4 June. A day after the incident, Karnataka government suspended senior IPS officers from the city, including then-police commissioner B. Dayananda and Vikash Kumar, who was the regional additional commissioner of police. Additionally, the government suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Shekhar H. Tekkannavar, ACP (Cubbon Park) C. Balakrishna, and Inspector A.K. Girish, who was posted at Cubbon Park police station. 'In the aforesaid all circumstances, in view of this Tribunal the order Annexure – A3 has been passed in a mechanical manner and the order is not based upon the convincing materials. The Police officers have been suspended without any sufficient material or grounds. Hence, the aforesaid order is liable to be quashed,' the Bengaluru bench of CAT ordered Tuesday. Although only Vikash Kumar had challenged the suspension, CAT expressed that it expects the government to revoke suspension of all officers suspended in this matter. Also Read: Bengaluru stampede tragedy: What science tells us about crowd control 'Police don't have Aladdin's lamp' Aggrieved by his suspension on 5 June, Vikash Kumar knocked on the CAT's doors on 9 June through his counsel, senior advocate Dhyan Chinnappa, and advocate Dhanush Menon. Before the tribunal, they argued that the officer was neither at fault because there was not enough time to prepare for such a huge event, nor did the state government issue any show cause notice to hear his perspective. Additionally, they argued that the state government had not conducted any primary inquiry and magisterial inquiry set up by the government had yet to submit its report on lapses that may have led to the stampede. On the other hand, the Karnataka government submitted to the tribunal that the suspended officers, prima facie, failed to maintain law and order, and that suspension was not a punishment. On its part, the tribunal rebuked the reason given in the suspension order by the government that these senior officials failed to provide a written rejection to the letter from RCB's CEO on 3 June about their plans to hold a victory parade. 'After mentioning the name of five officers, it is mentioned in the order that the CEO of RCB had intimated Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru City on 03.06.2025 about holding the victory parade and celebration on 04.06.2025. The aforesaid portion of the order is not correct because the respondents (state) did not submit the copy of any intimation submitted to the Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru on 03.06.2025,' the tribunal noted. Instead, the tribunal said it was the Karnataka State Cricket Association that informed the Cubbon Park police inspector on 3 June that if RCB went on to win the tournament, their event management firm, DNA Entertainment Networks Private Limited, would plan a victory parade around the M Chinnaswamy stadium. 'It appears from the aforesaid letter that the letter was submitted to the inspector of police, Cubbon Park police station, Bengaluru. Any copy of this letter was not given to any superior officer. It is not shown that the copy was also given to the present applicant Shri Vikash Kumar Vikash or other officers, Shri B. Dayananda or Shri Shekhar H. Tekkannavar,' the tribunal noted. It further noted that permission for assemblies and processions should be obtained from an officer of the rank of additional commissioner of police at least a week before the scheduled event. Hence, the tribunal documented that the answer to the question about whether the police had 'sufficient time' to make sufficient arrangements is 'negative'. The tribunal noted that RCB shared two social media posts early in the morning on 4 June, inviting its fans to the victory parade, but only the third post, at 3.14 PM, mentioned the availability of limited passes. 'As a result of aforesaid media post of RCB, the crowd gathered near the stadium about three lakhs and around the Chinnaswamy Stadium a significant number of people gathered upon the roads and other places in an approximately 14 km area. The capacity of the stadium was 35,000 while around 3 lakh people gathered around the stadium. At that moment it was not possible for the Police to make the arrangements,' the tribunal noted. It also said RCB was responsible for the huge gathering of fans, and the police were unable to make proper arrangements to manage such a huge gathering. Police personnel were already deployed on the streets of Bengaluru as fans celebrated throughout the intervening night of 3 and 4 June. The police personnel were also deployed at the Vidhan Soudha, where another event to felicitate the players was organised that morning, said the tribunal. Adding, 'It cannot expected from the police that within a short time of about 12 hours the police will make all arrangements required in the Police Act or in the other rules, etc.' The order went on to add, 'Police personnel are also human beings. They are neither 'God' (Bhagwan) nor magician and also not having the magic powers like 'Alladdin (sic) ka chirag (lamp)' which was able to fulfil any wish only by rubbing a finger. To control the aforesaid type of gathering and for making the proper arrangements sufficient time should be given to the police. But neither the information was given to the police for making the arrangements nor the permission was applied or granted by the police.' 'The KSCA submitted a letter which also did not contain any request for granting the permission or for making the arrangements. The letter shows only the information regarding the intention. Therefore, it was not expected from the police that upon the basis of letter submitted before the station in charge of one police station, the police will make all arrangements all of a sudden,' it said. (Edited by Amrtansh Arora) Also Read: Bengaluru stampede makes it clear—those managing IPL want the benefits without accountability
Time of India
4 hours ago
- Time of India
CM: Woman-led SIT to probe Beed sex attack case
Pune: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday announced the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by a woman IPS officer to investigate the sexual harassment case in Beed. "Considering the sensitivity of the case and the possibility of the harassment of more girls by the accused, the state has decided to form the SIT for a detailed and time-bound probe," Fadnavis said in the assembly on the second day of the monsoon session. Two teachers from a tuition centre were arrested in Beed on the charge of sexually harassing a 17-year-old student. Politics has begun in this sensitive case. Former cabinet minister from NCP, Dhananjay Munde, accused NCP (SP) MLA from Beed, Sandeep Kshirsagar, of trying to protect the accused. Munde met Fadnavis on Monday to raise the demand for the formation of an SIT. You Can Also Check: Mumbai AQI | Weather in Mumbai | Bank Holidays in Mumbai | Public Holidays in Mumbai — Anurag Bende Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Doctor's Day 2025 , messages and quotes!
