The Allahabad High Court dismissed a PIL demanding a high-level inquiry to ascertain the deaths and disappearances of persons in all three stampedes that occurred on Amavasya day in the Maha Kumbh area, according to the assurances of the state. The government informed the court of the scope of the inquiry of the judicial commission which has been enlarged. Now, this will also look into the loss of life and property in all three stampedes.
Chief Justice Arun Bhasali and Justice Shailendra Kshitij passed this order concerning a PIL by Suresh Chandra Pandey, former general secretary of the High Court Bar Association. During the last hearing, the petitioner’s counsel Saurabh Pandey submitted a pen drive containing reports and video footage as proof of the stampede at three places on Amavasya. It would submit video footage claiming that there had been an accident not in one but three places on Amavasya.
The Center for Lost and Found demanded the relatives of missing persons to produce the Aadhaar card for the claimed identification of missing persons. In other cases, their names would not be announced or declared. Besides this, the government has been reported by the media to give false information about the actual count of deaths due to the accident. There were more than a hundred deaths as per the claim; only 30 were accepted by the government to have died. The government and administration have a key role in this. Therefore, an inquiry into deaths and missing people in the public interest must necessarily be held at high levels under the supervision of the High Court.
High Court is unsatisfied with argument posed by government
Additional Advocate General Manish Goyal, appearing on behalf of the government, had termed as unnecessary the demand for a high-level inquiry into the PIL. The government has already constituted a judicial commission for the investigation, he added. This judicial commission will submit a report reflecting on the cause of the accident and the measures for future prevention, in due time within a month. However, the given argument of the government could not satisfy the court. Citing the limited scope of investigation of the commission, the court issued notice to the government to submit a report on how the government would find out deaths and missing people in accidents.
On Monday, the government came on the back foot. The court was told that even as the judicial commission was limited to finding the causes of the stampede in the Sangam area and suggesting future preventive measures, it will now include all accidents that happened in the fair area and will also cover the part-life and economic loss during this phase. The PIL was disposed of on assurance given by the government.
