The Madras High Court made strong remarks against actor-politician Vijay and his party, Tamillaga Vettri Kazhagam, about the rally stampede event. Justice N SenthilKumar has also ordered an SIT under senior IPS officer Asra Garg. The judge also condemned the party’s reckless reaction to the stampede and the actor’s lack of ability to show remorse.
Talking about the Karur rally where 41 people were killed, Justice Senthilkumar asked the leaders what they had done after the incident. He furiously stated that no action was taken by the leader who disappeared after the event, leaving the people helpless.
The court’s remarks targeted the actor and the Tamil Nadu government, which had disclosed the names of two local district secretaries in the complaint but had not mentioned the actor’s name anywhere. The court asked the State’s public prosecutor, Hasan Mohamed Jinnah, what stopped them from taking action on the party and the leader directly, raising the difficult question that had remained shut since the stampede.
He called the stampede a man-made disaster, and said that the court’s job is to be responsible, and it cannot sit like a “mute spectator”, pointing out that the world witnessed the sequence of events at the rally and the consequences of it. He also used the visuals to show how people were being pushed aside for his bus as bicycles collided into each other near the actor’s vehicle. The justice also spoke about two-wheelers being caught in the actor’s bus, but despite that, the bus was not stopped.
He also remarked that it seemed like the state was being lenient towards the organisers of the event. J Ravindran, the additional advocate general, clarifying the administration’s stand, stated that the party wanted to host the rally in December but had to advance it to September. He also clarified that the first priority for the venue was the Karur roundabout, but Velusamypuram was confirmed later. He further stated that the number of the audience was more than they had expected.
The court, however, pressed on the lack of presence of the party during the hour of the crisis, noting a major administrative lapse.
