Hathras Stampede: CM Adityanath Announces Judicial Probe, Says Will Ensure SOPs For Such Events In Future

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said retired administration and police officials will also be part of the judicial inquiry to probe the Hathras stampede and the committee will find who is responsible for the tragedy, or whether it was a conspiracy.

Hathras Stampede: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday assured that a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) will be drafted and put in place to prevent incidents like the Hathras stampede from taking place in the future as he announced a judicial probe into the tragedy which left 121 people dead on Tuesday.

The chief minister said retired administration and police officials will also be part of the judicial inquiry to probe the Hathras stampede and the committee will find who is responsible for the tragedy, or whether it was a conspiracy.

Adityanath also asserted that his government will ensure that such incidents do not occur in the future and SOPs may be put in place to guide the organisation of such events.

“We will ensure such incidents do not occur in the future,” he said, adding the government may put in place a Standard Operating Procedure which will guide organisation of such events in the future. “We will ensure this.”

Hathras stampede

Meanwhile, the death toll in the stampede that broke out in a ‘satsang’ in Hathras rose to 121 on Wednesday and police filed an FIR against the organisers, accusing them of hiding evidence and flouting conditions with 2.5 lakh people crammed into a venue in which only 80,000 were permitted.

A day after the stampede in Phulrai village at a congregation by religious preacher Bhole Baba snuffed out the lives of their loved ones, stunned families tried to come to terms with their loss – dazed at how an afternoon out could have ended in such tragedy. Crowds gathered around hospitals, some looking for those missing, some there to identify bodies and others tending to the injured.

CM Adityanath met those injured in the stampede — which took place at around 3.30 pm when the Baba was leaving the venue with some accounts saying people slipped in the slush as they ran after the preacher’s car.

“The chief minister held a meeting with officials in the circuit house and met the injured in district hospitals,” a government official said.

A team consisting of ADG Agra and Aligarh Divisional Commissioner has been constituted to inquire into the cause of the incident. The report is likely to be submitted on Wednesday.

According to the Office of the Relief Commissioner, the number of people injured stands at 28. Only four of the 121 bodies remained to be identified.

Of the 116 who died on Tuesday, all were women, except for seven children and one man.

(With inputs from PTI)