BENGALURU: Royal Challengers Sports Pvt Ltd (RCSPL) contended before the Karnataka High Court on Monday that the primary responsibility of maintaining law and order and managing crowds at public events rests with state authorities, particularly police, and RCSPL cannot be held vicariously responsible for incidents which were way beyond its control. RCSPL’s petition relates to two FIRs filed against it and DNA Entertainment Networks Pvt Ltd (DNA), its event manager, by the Cubbon Park police.
“The state government cannot, on the one hand, suspend its own police officials for negligence and dereliction of duty, and on the other, attempt to shift blame on to private entities such as RCB for the incident,” RCSPL alleged.
It stated that the suspension of senior police officials acknowledged “substantial dereliction of duty” by the police in managing the event, further supporting its position. It is contradicted by the active participation and prior knowledge of the event by high-ranking government officials, RCSPL stated.
HC restricts cops from taking coercive action
The chief minister, deputy chief minister and the governor were present at the felicitation ceremony at Vidhana Soudha, which is close to the stadium, RCSPL stated.
It also contended that the incident occurred outside the stadium premises, in public spaces. By no stretch of imagination can the petitioners be held liable for acts that transpired in areas over which they exercised no control or authority. Deaths due to the failure of law and order cannot possibly be laid at the feet of private persons, it stated.
RCSPL, being a sports franchise, does not engage in managing or organising its events directly as they are outsourced to event management company -- DNA. The responsibility to obtain necessary permission and approvals rests with DNA as well as the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), it contended.
The Karnataka High Court on Monday restrained the Bengaluru police from taking coercive action against Royal Challengers Sports Pvt Ltd (RCSPL) and DNA Entertainment Networks Pvt Ltd (DNA) over the first information reports (FIRs) registered against the two entities by the Cubbon Park police over the death of 11 people in a stampede during the RCB victory celebrations last Wednesday.
Passing the instructions to Advocate General K Shashikiran Shetty, Justice SR Krishna Kumar adjourned the hearing on the petitions by RCB and DNA questioning the legality of the FIRs to next week.
DNA, the event management company of RCB, claimed that the stampede was the result of the programme organised by the state government at Vidhana Soudha, from where lakhs of fans followed the team bus to the stadium without proportionate police presence at the stadium, similar to the one at Vidhana Soudha. It stated that the suspension of police officers above the rank of police inspector for dereliction of duty clearly shows that the fault lies with the state machinery. It is clear that the FIRs have been filed prematurely without any basis, solely to divert attention from the lapses of the state machinery and to deflect the blame by making the petitioner an easy scapegoat, it alleged.
Represented by its Managing Director Venkat Vardhan Thimmaiah, DNA also stated that despite an inquiry by the district magistrate and a one-man commission headed by a former high court judge appointed by the state government, the police jumped the gun and registered the FIRs.
