‘Cops not bhagwan’: CAT quashes IG’s suspension for RCB stampede | India News

BENGALURU: Central Administrative Tribunal Tuesday quashed the suspension order of senior IPS officer Vikash Kumar Vikash and held Royal Challengers Bengaluru responsible for the “unexpected congregation” outside Chinnaswamy Stadium, which led to the death of 11 fans on June 4.CM Siddaramaiah said there’s scope for appealing against the order, indicating the government would pursue legal options.Following the stampede and public outcry, state govt had on June 5 suspended Vikash (inspector general & additional commissioner of police, west, Bengaluru City) and four other officials, including Bengaluru (City) police commissioner B Dayananda.CAT, a quasi-judicial body that redresses officers’ grievances, said govt passed the suspension order in “a mechanical manner” and added that police personnel were only human and not ‘bhagwan’ or ‘magicians’RCB invite drew ‘3-5L people’ to B’luru stadium, says tribunal The tribunal observed that due to RCB inviting people through social media posts, “3 to 5 lakh people” gathered outside the stadium, which has a capacity of 35,000. Prima facie, it appeared RCB was responsible for the gathering of lakhs of people without seeking permission or consent from police. “Due to shortage of time on June 4, police were unable to make appropriate arrangements. Sufficient time was not given to police,” a CAT bench comprising judicial member Justice B K Shrivastava and administrative member Santhosh Mehra observed.CAT said police personnel are human and not ‘bhagwan’ or ‘magicians’ with powers akin to ‘Aladdin ka chirag’ (Aladdin’s magic lamp). To control such a gathering and make proper arrangements, sufficient time should be given to the police, the tribunal noted, while quashing Vikash’s suspension order.On June 9, Vikash had moved CAT, citing that no fault could be attributed to him since the suspension order itself showed a lack of time to prepare for a huge event. He further added that the order was issued without a show-cause notice and contended that suspension is an extreme measure imposed in cases of grave misconduct.State govt had said, as per police manual, the primary duty of the police is to prevent crime. Events leading to the tragedy prima facie suggested a lack of policing on the part of Bengaluru city police. The tribunal noted that KSCA had submitted only a letter, which didn’t contain any request seeking permission or for making arrangements. Therefore, it was not expected that police would make all arrangements suddenly. At the time of passing the order, there was no material suggesting negligence of the police officers concerned, CAT said.