MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Friday refused to order a CBI probe into the case filed by Karur town police over the stampede during TVK campaign on September 27 that left 41 people dead.
Dismissing two Public Interest Litigations (PILs) that sought to transfer the probe to the CBI, the vacation bench comprising justices M Dhandapani and M Jothiraman observed that the PILs were not maintainable as the investigation is still in its early stage.
The court added, “Don’t treat this court as the political arena. If, in the investigation, something goes wrong, you can come back. This is the initial stage.”
The bench also issued an interim injunction against granting permission for political parties to hold public meetings or events on state and national highways in Tamil Nadu until Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are framed.
The interim injunction was granted on four PILs that sought directions to frame SOPs for mass gatherings to prevent similar incidents in future.
The government also assured the court that it will not permit any meetings on the state and national highways, except the earmarked places, until the SOPs are finalised.
Noting that a similar case on SOPs is pending before the Principal Seat at Madras, the judges allowed the petitioners to implead themselves in that matter.
The Karur stampede resulted from a combination of poor planning and unexpected circumstances. TVK’s announcement of Vijay’s early arrival prompted crowds to gather from 11 am, though he did not arrive until 7:40 pm, leaving people waiting for hours under the scorching sun with limited access to food and water. Organisers had anticipated around 10,000 attendees, but over 27,000 people turned up, far exceeding police preparations for 20,000.
The event was held on a narrow public road, leaving little space for effective crowd management. Despite police flagging these concerns, they were present only to support, not manage, the event. When Vijay finally arrived, a sudden surge of people rushing to greet him triggered the chaos that led to the tragedy.
