BENGALURU: Victory has many fathers, but tragedy is an orphan. There are many claimants to the maiden IPL triumph of Royal Challengers Bengaluru, but no one has so far owned up responsibility for the stampede outside M Chinnaswamy Stadium during the RCB victory celebration on June 4, which claimed 11 lives, including two minors. Was it merely a question of crowd control and leadership? In both respects, Bengaluru was found wanting.
The obvious fall guy is the police. The June 4 stampede exposed the deeper issues of poor coordination, inadequate planning, and severe manpower shortage in the police department, with over 18,000 posts lying vacant across Karnataka.
The police, who must be prepared for any situation, denied permission for the event, citing short notice. The government, after coming under severe attack, suspended five top cops, including Police Commissioner B Dayananda, which was unprecedented.
The government’s move has kicked up a debate whether it was the fault of the government or the police. The government was also accused of making the police scapegoats. So, whose fault is it? Or is no one at fault? Should the unsuspecting victims be blamed for their faith in the system and wanting to be a part of the victory celebration?
VIEW FROM THE PAVILION
Police cannot choose their duty
A retired DGP, who has served as Bengaluru City Police Commissioner, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that regardless of the situation, it is the police department’s responsibility to make necessary arrangements.
“Police cannot choose what they will or won’t do. They cannot say they don’t have the manpower, so they can’t handle it. No matter the strength or limitations, police have to take care of the situation. If there’s an attack in Yelahanka, can the police say they won’t go?” he said, adding that the entire situation began on the morning of June 3, and there were already indications that something big was going to happen.
“No department ever works full staff. There are always vacancies. But that cannot be an excuse. If a prominent politician or celebrity dies suddenly, can police say, ‘Don’t take the body out for three days because we don’t have bandobast?’ Police must act.
In case of a major bandobast, the force can be mobilised from other locations. It doesn’t take more than four hours to mobilize additional forces. We have CRPF, KSRP and Home Guards personnel. If needed, police forces from neighbouring districts like Tumakuru, Ramanagara and Bengaluru Rural can also be brought in.”
Taking a dig at the situation, he said: “People who are unaware of the internal systems can argue otherwise, but the reality for insiders is different. The officers in charge did not initiate the process properly. Did they send requisitions to other departments or just claim they didn’t have manpower? If they didn’t have enough staff, they should have mobilised it. In the worst-case scenario, home guards stationed in the city could have helped manage crowds. It wasn’t a hostile crowd, it was a celebratory one.”
He pointed out that in major gatherings, large display screens are usually installed to manage crowd flow. “In a victory parade, the crowd keeps moving. People come, see the players, feel happy, and leave. There was no violence. It was not a riot.” The former commissioner added that scrutiny was one-sided. “All the questioning is happening from one side. A judicial inquiry will probe why the force was not mobilized, or basic crowd control was arranged.”
MISSING IN ACTION
Staff crunch: Over 18k vacancies in state
As many as 18,581 posts in the police department are vacant.
Former DG&IGP ST Ramesh said a work study conducted by an NGO with inputs from him, showed that police stations in Bengaluru were woefully short of manpower.
“We selected two police stations randomly in the city to study manpower requirement as to how many officers and men are needed for various tasks in a police station. The study showed the sanctioned strength was totally inadequate, and on top of that, there are many vacancies. Senior police officers have repeatedly flagged the problem with governments requesting that these vacancies be filled,” he said.
He added that the city’s jurisdiction and population have increased in geometric proportions but augmentation of the police force has hardly kept pace, irrespective of the party in power.
Former DG&IGP Ajai Kumar Singh said: “Shortage of police personnel is a perennial problem. If that shortage is affecting the functioning of the force, recruitment should take place regularly and systematically.”
VIEW FROM THE SLIPS
Officers’ objections ignored, and the usual fall guys
“Vidhana Soudha is the seat of government. Normally, government functions are held there and no private event is allowed. So, how was it chosen as the venue for the RCB felicitation event? RCB is a private franchise with profit as its objective. Obviously, it must be the government’s decision to host the event on the grand steps of Vidhana Soudha,” DG&IGP ST Ramesh said.
“The government consists of the ruling political establishment and senior bureaucracy, headed by the chief secretary. The police commissioner did not seem to have been consulted before holding the event at Vidhana Soudha. On the contrary, the objection of DCP, Vidhana Soudha security, was ignored, and the police commissioner and his four colleagues were made scapegoats,” he added.
It is ironic that the CM claimed he was ‘invited’ to the event when he himself was the host, Vidhana Soudha being under him. Naturally, he cannot be an invitee to his own function. RCB and the Governor were the invitees. The CM also claimed the stampede occurred at the stadium, but it is fair to surmise that if there was no event at Vidhana Soudha, the massive gathering at KSCA would not have happened, Ramesh said.
People started moving from Vidhana Soudha towards the stadium, a distance of just about one kilometre.There was never any official approval for the event at the stadium. RCB unilaterally put up a social media post about a celebration and victory parade, which drew people in huge numbers. People attending the Vidhana Soudha event rushed to the stadium to get another glimpse of their heroes, he opined.
Police had not granted permission for the event and the RCB management proceeded on its own. “The suspension order of police officials states they were suspended for not refusing permission in writing. This is purely a technicality. Was there written permission? In the absence of written permission, the request is deemed to have been rejected. RCB management did what they wanted, considering themselves above the law,” he said.
Ramesh also criticised the way permission was handled. “RCB and KSCA perhaps assumed that since the CM and other senior ministers were organising the felicitation at Vidhana Soudha, permission was unnecessary. Perhaps they didn’t even bother to press for police clearance. The DCM is reported to have received the RCB team at HAL airport. Police had no role in any of these developments. Yet they did their best to rescue and help the public after an ugly situation was thrust upon them, but became the fall guy. Police had been refusing permission and raising concerns about the bandobast since June 3, and working round the clock.”
Ramesh noted that the all-India civil service and Karnataka civil service conduct rules prevent police officers from going public with their views, which may be seen to go against the government. “Their hands are tied. The force has many issues but cannot raise them in public, yet they’re expected to do all the work. No city or district has surplus force to manage extraordinary situations. Normally, police force from neighbouring districts are brought in to manage extraordinary situations.”
He said police justifiably sought more time to manage the crowd by holding celebrations after a few days.“RCB management was in a hurry since their players were heading abroad. The political class wanted to bask in the reflected glory of the RCB heroes. It was an avoidable tragedy and it all started at Vidhana Soudha,” he said.
TWENTY20
System was hijacked, police alone cannot be blamed
Former DG&IGP Ajai Kumar Singh said he doesn’t have insider information about who asked whom or what letters were exchanged, but added that these details will emerge during the inquiry. “From what is visible, it appears the issue doesn’t lie solely with the police,” he said.
“Unfortunately, the official system was hijacked by unofficial functioning, which resulted in administrative failure. On paper, someone may be held responsible, but in reality, the decisions were taken by someone else.”
He added that based on what is available in public domain, there is no documented evidence showing the police made any decisions related to the event. “RCB posted about their victory, and the government announced a felicitation at Vidhana Soudha. There’s no indication that the police made or approved this decision. Certainly, blaming police alone is not fair,” said Singh.
He questioned the decision-making behind the felicitation: “Who decided to felicitate RCB? It was the government and KSCA. The RCB management was inviting lakhs of people to the event. This led to a huge crowd, that wasn’t planned for.”
Singh raised concerns about crowd control and preparedness: “If lakhs are being invited, was there enough time to plan logistics and ensure facilities were in place? There was confusion about which gates were to be opened, when they should open, and whether there was adequate medical assistance for the people attending.”