Kerala police, TDB file Sabarimala reports
The Kerala Police and Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) Thursday filed reports before the Kerala High Court on Jan 14 stampede at Pullmedu in Vandiperiyar in Idukki district which killed 102 Sabarimala pilgrims.
Director General of Police Jacob Punnose and the TDB submiited the reports before the division bench comprising justice Thothathil B. Radhakrishnan and justice P.S. Gopinathan.
The bench on Monday pulled up the state government and its police administration over the alleged neglect of warnings on the safety of Sabarimala pilgrims.
The court also slammed the Forest department and TDB officials and told them to reports by Thursday.
The bench on Jan 5 had asked the authorities to regulate the flow of pilgrims to avoid possible disasters like stampede and had observed that there had been lack of co-ordination among various departments involved in conduct of the festival at Sabarimala, which attracts millions of pilgrims during the two-month long season from mid-Nov.
‘We want to know what had happened. Explain how the mishap occurred’, the judges had said while issuing the direction.
The stampede on Jan 14 happened as the devotees were returning after witnessing the ‘Makara Jyothi’ (celestial light) at Pullmedu in Vandiperiyar in Idukki district.
Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan said the proposed judicial probe to be conducted into the disaster would cover all aspects and the guilty would not be spared.
