BREAKING| Supreme Court Orders CBI Investigation Into Karur Stampede; Retired SC Judge To Monitor Probe

The Supreme Court today(October 13) ordered an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) into the Karur stampede, which took place on September 27, during the rally of actor Vijay's political party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam(TVK), claiming 41 lives.

"The issues have a bearing on the fundamental rights of the citizens and the incident which has shaken the national conscience, deserves a fair and impartial investigation. As such, as an interim measure, direction deserves to be issued to hand over the investigation to the CBI with a view to fair investigation of the issue. There cannot be any doubt that fair investigation is deserved by the citizens," pronounced the bench comprising Justice JK Maheshwari and Justice NV Anjaria.

To allay the concerns of the parties regarding the impartiality of the investigation, the Court also formed a 3-member Supervisory Committee, headed by former Supreme Court Judge, Justice Ajay Rastogi, to monitor the CBI investigation. Justice Rastogi has been asked to choose two senior IPS officers, not below the rank of the Inspector General of Police, who may be from the Tamil Nadu cadre, but not natives of Tamil Nadu, as the other members of the Committee. The Committee will monitor the investigation by the CBI. It is at liberty to issue proper directions to the CBI and can review the evidence collected by the CBI. The CBI officers will submit monthly reports to the Committee on the progress of the investigation.

SC criticises the Madras High Court's approach

The Court criticised the Madras High Court (Chennai Bench) for passing the order constituting a Special Investigation Team of TN Police officers in a petition which was only seeking the formulation of a Standard Operating Procedure for political rallies. 

The Court sought a report from the Madras High Court Registrar General on how the writ petition, seeking SOP for rallies, was registered as a criminal writ petition. The High Court Chief Justice has been asked to re-assign the said petition seeking SOP to another bench.

The Court also observed that the Madras High Court (Chennai Bench) could not have entertained the matter relating to Karur stampede, which was falling within the Madurai bench jurisdiction, without any specific authorisation by the Chief Justice, which was absent. The Supreme Court said that the Chennai Bench ought to have dismissed the writ petition.

A bench comprising Justice JK Maheshwari and Justice NV Anjaria passed the interim order in the petition filed by TVK and other parties. After the order was dictated, the State's lawyers, Senior Advocates Dr AM Singhvi and P Wilson told the bench that the the petitioners in the two petitions seeking CBI investigation have now said that the petitions were filed without their knowledge and that they have written to the SC registry. The bench said it will consider the matter.

The bench also granted eight-weeks' time to the State of Tamil Nadu to file its counter-affidavit. It clarified that the order is based only on prima facie observations.

The petition filed by TVK challenged the October 3 order of the Madras High Court(Chennai Bench) that constituted an SIT to investigate the Karur stampede. The party's petition, filed through its General Secretary Aadhav Arjuna, objected to the High Court forming the SIT only with the officers of the Tamil Nadu Police. They also took exception to the adverse remarks made by the High Court against TVK and Vijay. The party sought an independent investigation under the monitoring of a former Supreme Court judge.

Other petitions challenged the October 3 order issued by the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, which refused to transfer the investigation to the CBI. During the hearing, the bench orally questioned the manner in which the High Court had passed the order. It noted that the SIT investigation was ordered in a petition seeking a Standard Operating Protocol for political rallies. The bench also asked how the principal bench in Chennai could pass orders when Karur fell within the jurisdiction of the Madurai bench.

The bench also questioned why the TVK party was granted permission to hold the rally when another party, AIADMK, was denied permission in the same place on the grounds that the passage is too narrow. It also raised concerns about how the postmortem of 30-40 bodies was done at midnight, and the bodies were cremated at 4 a.m. 

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