Madras High Court Condemns TVK for ‘Abandoning’ Karur Stampede Victims, Forms SIT
The Wire Staff
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New Delhi: The Madras higstah court on Friday (October 4) constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the stampede in Tamil Nadu’s Karur in which 41 people died at Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) chief and actor-turned-politician Vijay’s political rally last week.
The court also recorded that it “highly condemns” TVK functionaries for having “abandoned” the people who had come to the venue, and said that the party should have come to their rescue, reported The Hindu.
It said that the party having shown no remorse had shown its “mental state” and also condemned the state's actions and said that the court cannot close its eyes.
“The court, however, cannot close its eyes. The court cannot be a mute spectator. The court cannot shirk its responsibilities. The entire world has witnessed the sequences as well as consequences of the event,” it said.
Expressing dissatisfaction with the police probe the court said the Tamil Nadu government appeared to be “showing leniency” to the TVK despite the party functionaries having “fled from the scene of occurrence” after the death of scores of children and women.
Vijay has faced criticism for leaving Karur soon after the stampede, and hurrying back to Chennai. He had not responded to media queries at the Tiruchirapally airport. In a video statement, three days after the stampede Vijay broke his silence for the first time on 30 September and asked Chief Minister MK Stalin to “not touch” TVK workers. He neither apologised for the tragedy nor took any accountability and insisted that they did no wrong.
Police in Karur had registered a suo-moto FIR and arrested two lower-level TVK functionaries. The court took note that Vijay had not been named in the FIR.
Justice Senthilkumar directed Karur Town Inspector of Police to handover to the SIT all papers related to a First Information Report (FIR) registered against TVK general secretary Bussy Anand alias N. Anand and deputy general secretary C.T.R. Nirmal Kumar on the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The SIT will be headed by Inspector General of Police Asra Garg.
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