A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Monday directed the State government to file a report explaining how it had managed the situation after the stampede at Pulmedu near Sabarimala on Friday.
The Bench, comprising Justice Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan and Justice P.S. Gopinathan, said the government should state the present status of the entire area and whether any pilgrim was left without support.
The directives were issued when matters relating to the administration of the Travancore Devaswom Board came up for hearing before the Bench. The court observed that in spite of elaborate directives issued by the court — after it was noticed that there was no proper coordination among different departments and institutions involved in regulating the flow of pilgrims and management of the pilgrimage season — “we are sorry to record that a mishap took place in an area in Pullupara.”
The Bench recalled that the court had reminded devotees that they should maintain an orderly movement during pilgrimage. It had, in fact, specifically stated that stampedes had to be avoided totally.
“Though we had observed that the police alone will not be able to ensure that, and that the devotees had to cooperate, the fact of the matter remains that at the end of the day, we have Makarasankranthi ending with the calamity of reportedly 102 lives being lost in stampedes,” it said.
The court directed the Special Commissioner (the District Judge holds the post) to place a report on the tragedy. All the reports should be filed on or before January 20.
The Bench made it clear that the directives to file reports were issued not for getting “glossy statements as to how the administration would visualise the managements of any such issues in the year to come; what is required is reports regarding the ground realities and the action taken.”
