SC to hear today PIL on safety of Maha Kumbh devotees
The Supreme Court will on Monday take up a PIL seeking directions for measures to ensure safety and security of people attending the world’s largest religious gathering Maha Kumbh at Prayagraj where 30 pilgrims died and over 60 got injured in a stampede on January 29.
The PIL, filed by advocate Vishal Tiwari, is listed before a Bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar on February 3. A day after the stampede, Tiwari had filed the petition accusing the Uttar Pradesh Government of “lapses, negligence and utter failure of administration” and sought action against state officials for their alleged negligence and lapses that led to the stampede.
“Direct the state of Uttar Pradesh to submit a status report on the Mahakumbh stampede… and also direct to initiate legal action against the persons, authorities and officials for their negligent conduct,” he submitted.
The petition was mentioned on Friday for an early hearing before a Bench led by CJI Khanna, which had asked the petitioner to follow the procedure and approach the top court’s Registry. Tiwari has also sought directions to state governments to prevent stampedes at crowded places like Maha Kumbh and ensure security of people.
“All states governments with coordination of the Uttar Pradesh Government shall also deploy their small medical teams, comprising doctors and nurses, at the Maha Kumbh so that at the time of emergency there may not be shortage of health staff,” Tiwari demanded. He asked the SC to issue directions to ensure that VIP movements did not create danger to the common devotees’ safety and space for entry and exit of devotees.