Image Source: PTI
Guwahati, July 3: At least 121 people, including more than 100 women and seven children, were killed in a tragic stampede that took place at a religious event in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh, on Tuesday.
According to reports, devotees from various districts of Uttar Pradesh and neighbouring states attended a ‘Satsang’ (prayer meeting) in Hathras, where the stampede occurred.
Hathras District Magistrate Ashish Kumar said, “The stampede broke out in Phulrai village within the Sikandra Rao police station limits in Hathras. This was a private event, and permission had been given by the sub-divisional magistrate. Security arrangements were made by the administration, but the other arrangements were supposed to be made by the organisers.”
Officials stated that the area where the tragic stampede took place was too small to accommodate the crowd that gathered in the ‘satsang’ on Tuesday afternoon.
The Uttar Pradesh government formed a high-level committee headed by the Additional Director General of Police, Agra, and the Aligarh Commissioner to investigate the incident.
Meanwhile, a case has been registered against the 'satsang’ organisers, wherein it was stated that permission was granted for 8,000 people, however, more than 2.5 lakh attended the religious event.
“Due to an uncontrollable crowd leaving the venue, devotees sitting on the ground were crushed. On the other side of the road, the crowd running in the water and mud-filled fields was forcibly stopped by the organising committee with sticks, due to which the pressure of the crowd kept increasing and women, children, and men kept getting crushed,” the FIR reads.
“The police and administrative officials present on the spot made every possible effort and sent the injured police to the hospital with the available resources. But no cooperation was given by the organisers,” it added.
The organisers have been charged under sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 110 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 126 (2) (wrongful restraint), 223 (disobedience to an order duly promulgated by the public servant), and 238 (causing the disappearance of evidence) of the new criminal code, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Furthermore, a compensation of Rs. 2 lakh each has been announced for the next of kin of the deceased and Rs. 50,000 for the injured.
