BENGALURU: The State Government on Wednesday gave an undertaking before the Karnataka High Court that it will not publish or circulate the report submitted by the Commission of Inquiry headed by Justice John Michael D’Cunha into the stampede that claimed 11 lives outside M Chinnaswamy Stadium during the RCB victory celebrations on June 4.
Recording the submission made by Advocate General K Shashikiran Shetty that the report will not be published or circulated till September 4, the next date of hearing, the division bench of Justice Jayant Banerji and Justice Umesh M Adiga adjourned the hearing of the petition filed by DNA Entertainment Networks Private Limited to September 4 to enable the State Government to file its objections.
Accusing the commission of not following the procedure laid down in the Commission of Inquiry Act by not giving sufficient opportunity of hearing and also to cross-examination, DNA alleged that its reputation has been affected adversely because of the report.
DNA contended that the commission contended that it is a company that falls under the category ‘person’ appearing in Section 8(b) of the Act, and therefore, the reputation and goodwill have been affected adversely because of the report, which was leaked to the media. The commission has finalised the report without recording the statements of the witnesses, DNA alleged.
Raising preliminary objections about the maintainability of the petition, Advocate General submitted that the commission is empowered to set up its own procedure and the commission is not against any individual but into the incident, and therefore, the question affecting the individual’s reputation does not arise.
‘Some observations shocking’
When the counsel for the petitioner submitted that the report of the commission has been given to the Criminal Investigation Department, which is investigating the crimes registered over the incidents, the court orally observed that some observations recorded in the report are shocking... “but we are not making any observations at this stage,” the court said.