SC to hear on Friday plea seeking probe into Hathras stampede

New Delhi, Jul 11 (PTI) The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Friday a petition seeking a probe into the recent Hathras stampede that left 121 dead.

The plea has sought the appointment of a five-member expert committee under the supervision of a retired apex court judge to probe the July 2 stampede incident.

According to the cause list of July 12 uploaded on the apex court website, the plea is scheduled to come up for hearing before a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.

The petition, filed by advocate Vishal Tiwari, has also sought a direction to the Uttar Pradesh government to submit a status report on the incident and to initiate legal action against the authorities, officials and others for their negligent conduct.

It has sought the apex court’s direction to the states to issue guidelines to prevent stampede or other incidents for the safety of the public in organising any religious or other events where a large number of people gather.

The stampede at a religious congregation in Hathras on July 2 left 121 people dead.

Over 2.5 lakh devotees had gathered in Hathras district’s Phulrai village for the ‘satsang’ conducted by Baba Narayan Hari, who is also known as Saakar Vishwahari and Bhole Baba.

The Uttar Pradesh Police has registered an FIR against the organisers, accusing them of hiding evidence and flouting conditions with 2.5 lakh people gathering for the event in which only 80,000 were permitted.