Bengaluru Stampede | 'Made Scapegoat; Suspension As A Measure Of Punishment Impermissible': ACP Vikash Kumar To Karnataka HC

He admitted that the tragedy was "unfortunate" and unfolded within 5-10 minutes.

"State's counsel says that the incident was of the magnitude that the city had never seen...The entire incident happened in 5-10 mins, it was unfortunate...There are so many views, this could have been done, that could have been done...But whatever could have been done, was done", he submitted

Furthermore, he strongly objected to the rationale behind his suspension as he submitted that suspension as a measure of punishment can't be ordered as was done in the instant case. Chinnappa argued:

"The suspension order refers to 'accountability', not 'dereliction of duty'. You suspended us after ordering a magisterial enquiry. If your stand is 'accountability', you wanted to punish us, make us scapegoats.”.

Further elaborating on this point, Chinnappa contended that when suspension is used merely to 'ensure accountability' without following a disciplinary enquiry, it effectively becomes punitive, which is impermissible in law. He added that accountability can't be achieved by the governemnt by suspending someone.

In this regard, he specifically referred to the Government's order, which mentions that the suspension was being ordered to "ensure accountability".

After the tragedy, he submitted, efforts were made to ensure that the public didn't leave the stadium abruptly and that orderly dispersal of the remaining crowd was ensured.

Due to a paucity of time, he could not complete his arguments, which will now continue tomorrow.

Senior Counsel PS Rajagopal (for the State government) submitted that even before the final IPL match began, RCB had submitted an application to police officers outlining their proposed victory celebration, and subsequently, the officers began acting as 'servants of RCB', making security arrangements without first asking who had authorised the public event.

"The most straightforward thing for the IPS Officer to tell was: you (RCB Management) have not taken permission. Then they may have come before the High Court, and the law would have taken its own course", he submitted.

He submitted that RCB's first IPL win was emotionally charged and expected to attract massive crowds, and despite this, officers failed to alert the public about safety measures or coordinate with higher authorities, and their actions led to public embarrassment and operational failure. He added that there was dereliction of duty on their part.

Rajagopal also pointed out that no guidance had been taken from senior officials, and the root of the matter is that the matter was not discussed with higher-ups. He added that no punishment had been given to them and the state had, as an interim measure, merely kept the officers "out of mischief".

These submissions were made in a plea moved by the State government challenging the Central AdministrativeTribunal's (CAT) order quashing the suspension of IPS officer Vikash Kumar Vikash, who was held responsible by the state government along with four others for alleged negligence in the stampede near Chinnaswamy Stadium, ahead of RCB's IPL victory celebration.