Bengaluru stadium stampede: HC asks govt to 'justify' suspension of IPS officer

The Karnataka High Court on Thursday asked the state government to “justify” its action of suspending police officers over the charge of “dereliction of duty” following the stampede during the RCB team's 2025 IPL victory celebration in Bengaluru.

 

The court was hearing the state government’s petition challenging the Central Administrative Tribunal’s order quashing the suspension order against IPS officer Vikash Kumar Vikash, the Additional Commissioner of Police (West), Bengaluru.

 

A division bench of Justice S.G. Pandit and Justice T.M. Nadaf said, “You have to justify whether it was proper to keep the officers under suspension, or whether shifting of the officers to another post would have been sufficient.”

 

Advocate General Shashi Kiran Shetty, who urged the court to stay the CAT order, stated that the officer had already “gone in uniform” to resume the charge, even as the case was pending before the court.

 

The court reminded the respondent that the suspension order had been quashed and the order for reinstatement was still pending and asked him not to “precipitate” the matter till the final disposal of the case. The court has posted the next hearing on July 9.

 

At least 11 people died and over others were injured in the stampede that took place near the Chinnaswamy Stadium on June 4.

 

It may be recalled that the Home Department, in its order dated June 5, 2025, suspended IPS officers Bengaluru city police commissioner B. Dayananda, Additional Commissioner of Police (West) Vikash Kumar Vikash, DCP (Central) Shekar H. Tekkannavar, along with ACP (Cubbon Park) C. Balakrishna and Police inspector (Cubbon Park P.S.) A.K. Girish, stating that prima facie, it was found there had been “substantial dereliction” of duty by the officers.

 

The order also stated that the CEO of RCB had informed the City Police Commissioner on June 3 about holding the victory parade and celebrations on June 4. However, the office of the Police Commissioner had failed to give a written reply to the organisers, rejecting the permission on the grounds of lack of time to prepare for such a huge event.

 

“The RCB and the Cricket Association went ahead to tweet about the celebrations and invite the fans to the Chinnaswamy stadium without going through the usual practice of issuing passes or tickets. Despite the knowledge of these developments and the expectation of a huge turnout of cricket fans, the police department had made no effort to either organise the event systematically at the stadium or to disseminate information to the public to take necessary precautions for their safety. It did not depute the police force for appropriate crowd management,” stated the order.

 

It was also alleged that the above situation was not discussed with the higher-ups for taking necessary guidance and advice in the matter.

 

Vikash Kumar approached the Tribunal challenging the suspension order and the CAT, on July 1, quashed Vikash's suspension, stating that there was no convincing material showing negligence on the part of the police.

 

The Tribunal called the suspension “mechanical and without sufficient material”, asserting that there was no convincing evidence of negligence or dereliction of duty by Vikash Kumar. It also noted that RCB had invited fans without police permission, leading to chaos outside the stadium. The tribunal observed: “Police officers are neither God nor magicians... they do not have Aladdin’s lamp to anticipate sudden crowds.”

 

The Tribunal further stated that if the government was dissatisfied with the officer’s conduct, it should have followed due process via a departmental inquiry, not an abrupt suspension.

 

“We expect the government to give the same benefit to the other officers who were suspended by the same (June 5) order,” stated the CAT.

 

The Karnataka government on July 2 moved the High Court challenging the CAT order arguing that the Tribunal had “overstepped” its jurisdiction, especially since judicial and magisterial inquiries are still underway, and had also ignored material related to alleged dereliction of duty.

India