Chinnaswamy stampede: DNA moves Karnataka High Court against judicial commission report

Event management house DNA Entertainment Networks has moved the Karnataka High Court challenging a judicial commission report which holds the company and its officials among those responsible for the June 4 stampede that took place outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru [DNA Entertainment Networks Private Limited v. State of Karnataka and ors].

The matter was mentioned this morning before a Bench of Justices Jayant Banerjee and SG Pandit. The Court has agreed to hear the plea on Monday, July 28.

The Chinnaswamy Stadium stampede unfolded after a crowd of over 3 lakh fans gathered in hopes of meeting the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) team a day after their June 3 IPL cricket win. The cricket team was supposed to arrive at the stadium on the evening of June 4. However, the victory celebrations were cut short when a stampede occurred at the gates of the stadium, leading to the deaths of 11, and leaving over 50 people injured.

The State eventually ordered an inquiry into these events by a judicial commission headed by retired High Court judge, Justice John Michael D' Cunha, to discern what led to the stampede and to suggest corrective measures.

In his report, Justice Cunha opined that the stampede took place because the event's organisers were reckless and failed to regulate the entry of crowds into the stadium.

He recommended legal action against RCB, DNA and the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), which makes decisions on renting out the Chinnaswamy stadium. He also recommended legal action against several officials, including police.

DNA has now challenged these findings, arguing that it was the police and other State authorities who were responsible for not properly managing the entry of cricket fans present outside the stadium, leading to the stampede.

It has contended that it was not responsible for the crowds outside the stadium.

It also claimed that the judicial commission had not served a copy of its report before it was submitted, and that it was even leaked to the media before DNA could access a copy of it, thereby violating natural justice principles.

"The fact that the impugned Report is leaked to the press but not given to the Petitioner till date makes it clear that the Respondents have acted in a pre-planned manner with a vendetta to implicate the Petitioner and its officials falsely," DNA alleges.

It added that the judicial commission failed to give DNA and its Directors an opportunity to cross-examine witnesses, which the company argues is required under the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952.

The plea recounts that its directors Venkata Varadhana Thimmaiah and Sunil Mathew, had appeared on two dates in June to give their statement to the judicial commission. However, DNA has alleged that some of their answers were not correctly recorded and that the judicial commission failed to rectify these errors despite requests.

DNA has also questioned why it was not given copies of depositions made by its witnesses and other witnesses, despite a request for the same.

The haste with which the inquiry report was submitted gives an impression that the State wanted to save its skin and that the inquiry commission was a mere "eye wash" to pacify the public and deflect blame by making DNA a scapegoat, it added.

The petition has been filed through Advocate Suraj Sampath of BK Sampath Kumar & Associates.