Hathras stampede: Police files 3,200-page charge sheet

Hathras: The police here have filed a 3,200-page charge sheet in a court in connection with the stampede that occurred during the Narayan Sakar Hari “Bhole Baba” congregation on July 2, which claimed 121 lives. The police have named 11 individuals as accused, including those responsible for securing the event’s permit.

The court has set October 4 as the date for providing copies of the charge sheet to the accused, defense lawyer A P Singh said. On Tuesday, a physical appearance was made in court for the 10 accused, including main organiser and fund raiser of the event Dev Prakash Madhukar, who were brought from Aligarh District Jail to the Hathras District Court, he said. One of the accused, Manju Yadav, is currently out on bail following orders from the Allahabad High Court.

“The SIT probing the case has filed the charge sheet. A separate judicial inquiry into the matter is ongoing,” Singh said. A total of 121 people, mostly women, died in the stampede after a satsang of Surajpal alias Bhole Baba alias Narayan Sakar Hari on July 2 in Fulrai village in Hathras’ Sikandra Rao area.

Government agencies, including police, have blamed the organisers for mismanagement at the event, noting the crowd size exceeded to over 2.50 lakh from the permitted 80,000, even though the lawyer of the ‘godman’ on Saturday claimed ‘some poisonous substance’ sprayed by ‘some unidentified men’ triggered the stampede.

An FIR was lodged in the matter on July 2 under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 110 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 126 (2) (wrongful restraint), 223 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by the public servant) and 238 (causing disappearance of evidence).

Surajpal alias Narayan Sakar Hari alias ‘Bhole Baba’ was not mentioned as accused in the case. On July 3, the Uttar Pradesh government had formed a three-member judicial commission headed by a retired high court judge to probe the Hathras tragedy and to look into the possibility of a conspiracy behind the stampede.