CHENNAI: The Madras High Court will hear on Monday the TVK’s plea seeking an independent probe into the Karur tragedy (on Saturday) which left 40 people, including children, dead.
Raising doubts over the root cause of the tragedy and the need for preserving the CCTV footage recorded at the spot, TVK lawyers, led by advocate S Arivazhagan, approached Justice M Dhandapani on Sunday for taking up a suo motu case on the incident and ordering an independent probe into it.
However, the judge, who is going to sit in the vacation court in the Madurai Bench, said he would take up the matter if they file a formal petition. He agreed to hear the petition in the Madurai bench on Monday if the filing formalities are completed.
Meanwhile, a victim of the tragedy, A Senthilkannan of Ramanur in Karur, moved the court with a petition seeking to implead him in a pending case over relaxing the severe conditions imposed on the roadshows of Vijay with a prayer for issuing a direction to the DGP not to grant permission for further public events of the actor-politician until the inquiry into the tragedy is completed and accountability is fixed.
Justice N Senthilkumar, a vacation judge, agreed for an urgent hearing in a special sitting on Sunday afternoon when senior counsel G Sankaran requested. However, the hearing was cancelled as the petition was not formally filed. The court also declined to urgently hear a petition by BJP leader and councillor of Greater Chennai Corporation Uma Anandan seeking a CBI probe into the Karur stampede.
Senthilkannan, in his petition, recounted the tragedy, stating that the crowd surged forward uncontrollably and he witnessed men, women and children collapsing and suffocating before being trampled.
He said it was not a mere accident but a result of reckless planning, gross mismanagement and complete disregard for the safety of the public. The organisers permitted the crowd to gather without restrictions, failed to erect adequate barricades and positioned the campaign vehicle in a manner that provoked a dangerous surge.
He said the Karur tragedy is a stark reminder that unregulated exercise of the right to assemble enshrined in Article 19 (1) (b) of the Constitution can have catastrophic consequences resulting in loss of life and serious injuries. The state has a positive obligation to protect citizens from such dangers by enforcing adequate preventive measures and by refusing permission for such rallies where there is a clear risk to life and public order.
Permitting rallies (by the TVK and its leader Vijay) at a time when the tragedy remains under probe would amount to placing countless other lives in danger. The public confidence in the state and its machinery would be shaken if no effective steps are taken to prevent a recurrence of such incidents. The petitioner said unless the HC issues strict directions to forbear the DGP from granting permit for further rallies by TVK and Vijay until accountability is fixed and safety mechanisms are enforced, another tragedy of equal or greater magnitude may occur.