BENGALURU: It has not even been a year since the stampede outside M Chinnaswamy Stadium on June 4, 2025, killing 11 people and leaving more than 33 people seriously injured. Cut to March 2026, the first match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was hosted in the same stadium on Saturday, even as parents of these victims are yet to catch on with their normal lives like everybody else and come to terms with the fact that their kids are never to return.
Among the 11 dead, there were school, college students and a few working professionals who had come to the stadium for a glimpse of their favourite cricketers.
Speaking to TNIE, Ashwini UL, mother of Divyanshi BS (14) who died in the stampede, was angry. She asked, “What can the government or anyone do now? Can you bring back my daughter or get me justice for whatever happened? Will somebody come forward to take responsibility of killing these 11 people? If the government had some conscience, they wouldn’t have organised the match in the same spot again. I agree that they have built a memorial and set up chairs in the remembrance of 11 people. But how many families even know about it? They are still under grief.”
When asked if she was able to get the gold bangles and earrings Divyanshi wore, she said, “No, we don’t have a clue of who stole those jewellery when she was taken to hospital. We never got a call regarding it.”
Karunakar Shetty, father of victim, Chinmay Shetty (19), expressing his anger against the government, said, “After the incident, the government handed over the case to CID for investigation. The authorities spoke to everyone, except me.
Despite they requesting me many times, I refused to go. When they asked me again, I asked them, ‘What’s the use of interrogation? Anyways, the government would be given a clean chit’. The same thing happened and we are still awaiting justice.” Chinmay was a first-year student of Computer Science Engineering. She was a class topper, an Yakshagana artiste, a basketball player and a Bharatnatyam dancer.
Lakshman DH, father of Bhoomik (19), burst into tears remembering his son, “I remember my son every day; only we know the value of his loss. Had the government known the value of these 11 lives, they wouldn’t have held a match in the same place. There was compensation money given to us but that cannot be equivalent to a life. What is more painful is that we haven’t received a single call from RCB so far.”