RCB ‘prima facie responsible’ for stampede: CAT

The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has held Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) “prima facie responsible” for the stampede that occurred on June 4 outside the M Chinnaswamy Stadium during the team’s IPL 2025 victory celebrations, which tragically claimed 11 lives and left several others injured.

“Prima facie it appears that the RCB is responsible for the gathering of about three to five lakh people. The RCB did not take the appropriate permission or consent from the Police. Suddenly, they posted on social media platforms and as a result of aforesaid information the public were gathered,” noted the Tribunal.

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The Tribunal was hearing a petition filed by Additional Commissioner of Police Vikash Kumar Vikash, who was suspended following the incident. In its ruling, the CAT absolved the police of blame and cited RCB’s lack of coordination as a key factor contributing to the chaos.

In the order passed by Justice B K Srivastava and Administrative Member Santosh Mehra, CAT-Bangalore Branch, citing lack of time to make arrangements, said the police were also human beings and neither “God or magician” having magical powers like “Alladdin ka Chirag” to make adequate arrangements in such short time.

The Tribunal also highlighted the lack of formal communication from the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA).

“It cannot be expected from the Police that within a short time of about 12 hours the Police will make all arrangements required in the Police Act or in the other rules. Police personnel are also human beings…To control the aforesaid type of gathering and for making the proper arrangements sufficient time should be given to the Police.”

“But neither the information was given to the Police for making the arrangements nor the permission was applied or granted by the Police. The KSCA submitted a letter which also did not contain any request for granting the permission or for making the arrangements. The letter shows only the information regarding the intention. Therefore, it was not expected from the Police that upon the basis of a letter submitted before the Station In-charge of one Police Station, the Police will make all arrangements all of a sudden,” the Tribunal stated.

The Royal Challengers Bengaluru ended their 17-year wait for the maiden IPL title after beating Punjab Kings in the June 3 final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.