Kolkata: Seven accused individuals in the Durga Pandal stampede in Kolkata were arrested on Sunday, October 18, and sent to 10-day police custody.
Those arrested include puja committee secretary Raj Kumar, its vice president Santanu Dubey, bamboo structure builder Biplab Mukherjee, crowd managers Koushik Saha and Pintu Dey, and private security heads Suman Chakraborty and Rajesh Pal.
The stampede claimed 19 lives, most of them women and children, and injured 24. Kolkata Police has arrested the seven accused on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
While prosecutors cited gross mismanagement, including narrow gates, insufficient security, and reliance on verbal order, defense counsel argued the suspects were innocent visitors or rescue volunteers.
Lawyer MD Yashim Raheman, representing the arrested accused, said he had informed the court that these individuals were outsiders and had come for Durga Puja celebrations. “Upon observing the heavy crowding, where many people were in distress, they stepped in to assist with rescue efforts,” he said.
9 IPS officers assigned for Durga Puja crowd management charge
Following the incident, the state government has decided to deploy nine Indian Police Service (IPS) officers experienced in Durga Puja crowd management to handle the festive rush in Kolkata.
A top official said that to spruce up crowd management, nine IPS officers — Sumanjit Ray, IG (Border), Mehmud Akhtar, IG (IB), Miraj Khalid, IG (Traffic), Rupesh Kumar, DIG (STF), Shubhankar Bhattacharya, DIG (Traffic), Tarun Haldar, DIG (CID), Soumya Ray, SS (EB), Priyabrata Ray, SP (Traffic) and Deepak Sarkar, SS (CID) — have been assigned crowd-management duties during the festival.
Kolkata Police’s 11-point advisory
Amid concerns over crowd management, police deployment and allegations of negligence against puja organisers following the tragedy, Kolkata Police issued an 11-point advisory for its personnel to prevent untoward incidents at major Durga Puja pandals.
No crowd will be allowed inside pandals during such situations. Police have also been directed to ensure adequate lighting at the venues, he said.
“The advisory states that police personnel must not leave their assigned posts even during rain. Movement of visitors into pandals must be regulated according to the situation.
“Vehicles carrying VIPs will not be allowed up to the pandals and must be parked at a designated distance,” the officer elaborated.
Police personnel have also been directed to monitor announcements made by puja organisers and ensure that visitor routes are not changed abruptly. Every officer and constable must coordinate with a team of five to six volunteers of each puja committee.
CM hints at scrapping VIP gates at Durga Puja pandals
Earlier, West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said the government may mandate scrapping the practice of Durga Puja pandals having VIP gates and stressed the need for clear entry and exit provisions following the stampede.
Puja organisers, especially the more popular and high-budget ones, often provide special access to ‘VIP pandal hoppers’ who largely remain clutter-free during peak footfall hours. Special passes are sold to interested puja revellers at a premium, granting them access through VIP gates.
“If needed there will be restricted access to Durga Pujas. There will be no VIP or other special lines for visiting pujas. Learning from the bad experience of yesterday.”
The CM added, “Such incidents can sometimes happen. But as a government we take responsibility for it and not play blame games and criticise, and co-operate for rescue and relief. Let us not politicise this.”
Adhikari said a toned-down Bijoya Sammelani (traditional post-puja cultural reunion) will be held with the puja committees of Kolkata and its suburbs on October 26. There, experiences of this year will be exchanged, and steps will be discussed that can be taken to avoid recurrence of such tragedies, he told reporters at the state police headquarters in Kolkata.
High-level team inspects top Durga Puja pandals for safety
Additionally, a high-level committee to review safety arrangements at major Durga Puja marquees across West Bengal visited several community puja pandals in Kolkata on Sunday, an official said.
Commencing their visit from Santosh Mitra Square near Sealdah station, which attracts a huge number of revellers due to its innovative themes, the committee members scrutinised the entry and exit gates and lighting arrangements.
The panel members visited several crowd-puller Durga Puja pandals across Kolkata to oversee safety and security norms and crowd management plans, sources said.
Failure of state govt: Opposition
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the incident should not have happened, adding that it occurred due to failure of the state government, the administration, fire brigade and the municipal corporation.
“The tragedy could have been averted had the fire brigade and municipal corporation teams acted with greater promptness. he location where this took place hosts a well-known Durga Puja celebration,” he said.
“The government’s failure to exercise proper caution led to the deaths of devotees who had come to offer prayers to Goddess Durga,” Chowdhury said.
He demanded an impartial inquiry and expressed condolences to the families affected by the stampede.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) expressed anguish over the stampede and echoed the Congress’s claims, alleging that state authorities failed to ensure the safety of devotees.
In a statement, the party said it deeply mourned the deaths and extended condolences to the bereaved families. The injured could have received the best medical facilities available at Calcutta Medical College and Hospital, but the state government chose otherwise and acted as a “PR agency for a private-run hospital”, the statement said.
(With inputs from PTI)
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