The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) on Tuesday quashed the suspension of Karnataka IPS officer Vikash Kumar Vikash following the stampede outside Chinnaswamy Stadium that killed 11 people on June 4, and held the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) responsible for the tragedy.
Nearly 2.5 lakh fans had thronged MG Road and Cubbon Road near the stadium after RCB announced a victory parade from the Vidhana Soudha and a fan engagement programme at the stadium to celebrate the team’s maiden IPL triumph.
The CAT said RCB did not seek police permission for the victory event.
“Permission was not granted by the police because the organiser concerned did not apply for the permission as per rules,” the tribunal noted.
The tribunal added: “…Therefore, prima facie it appears that RCB is responsible for the gathering of about three to five lakh people.”
“Suddenly, they posted on social media platforms and as a result of aforesaid information the public gathered,” the CAT observed.
RCB had posted on its social media handles about the parade and the fan engagement on the morning of June 4, and the tribunal noted that the police did not have sufficient time to manage such a large gathering at suchshort notice.
“Police personnel are also human beings. They are neither god nor magicians...,” the CAT said.
Vikash, 46, former inspector-general and additional commissioner of police(west) of Bengaluru City,was suspended after thestampede that killed 11 and injured 56.
The tribunal noted that “the action of suspending the police officers is not based upon sufficient/ substantial materials. When the police officers were suspended, there was no convincing material for showing the default or negligence of the concerned police officers”.
It directed the Karnataka government to reinstate Vikash immediately.
The RCB management was not available for comment on Tuesday’s developments.