Allegations, suspensions and a govt under fire
The stampede outside M Chinnaswamy Stadium on June 4 during RCB's first IPL victory parade has spiralled into a political and administrative quagmire. Claiming 11 lives and injuring over 50, the incident has exposed glaring failures in crowd management and safety protocols. Activist T J Abraham has levelled serious allegations against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, and the Karnataka government's response, marked by hasty suspensions of IPS officers and a delayed report to the Centre, raises questions about accountability and competence. Documents reveal that Bengaluru police had flagged concerns about insufficient preparation time, yet the event proceeded with gates allegedly kept closed on DyCM Shivakumar's orders to create a spectacle. This decision, coupled with last-minute event scheduling, set the stage for a deadly crush.
Activist T J Abraham's complaint, filed at Cubbon Park Police Station, names 14 individuals, including Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar, and Chief Secretary Shalini Rajneesh. Abraham accuses Shivakumar of leveraging the event for personal gain, alleging negotiations to acquire an RCB stake and planning unsafe festivities.
The closed gates, he claims, were a deliberate move to amplify the crowd's fervour, directly contributing to the stampede. Rajneesh faces charges of misusing public funds for publicity, while Siddaramaiah's oversight as CM is questioned.
A second complaint by activist Snehamayi Krishna echoes these sentiments, intensifying pressure on the Congress-led government. The Opposition BJP has demanded resignations and labelled the incident a result of 'utter mismanagement.'
On June 5, the Karnataka government hastily suspended five top police officials, including Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayanand, ACP (West) Vikas Kumar, and DCP (Central Division) Shekhar. The stated reason was 'dereliction of duty'. However, this move smacks of scapegoating according to netizens. Police had warned of logistical challenges, yet the suspensions target lower-tier officials while sparing political leaders implicated in decision-making. Vikas Kumar has challenged his suspension at the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), arguing it overlooks systemic issues. In a bid to restore public trust, the Karnataka government has drafted the Karnataka Crowd Control (Managing Crowd at Events and Venues of Mass Gathering) Bill, 2025. The proposed legislation imposes up to three years in jail and Rs 5 lakh fines on commercial organisers, with lighter penalties for non-commercial ones, for safety violations. Compensation provisions, recoverable as land revenue if unpaid, aim to hold organisers accountable.
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The Wire
27 minutes ago
- The Wire
In Critique of Draft Rohith Vemula Bill, UN Experts Urge Stronger Safeguards for SC, ST Students
New Delhi: Two United Nations special rapporteurs have issued a detailed statement raising concerns and offering recommendations on the draft Rohith Vemula (Prevention of Exclusion or Injustice) (Right to Education and Dignity) Bill proposed by the Karnataka government and urged the government to consider them. Ashwini K.P., special rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, and Nicolas Levrat, special rapporteur on minority issues, noted that while the Bill aims to combat caste-based discrimination in higher education, it lacks key human rights protections and clarity in legal definitions. The draft legislation of the law, named after Rohith Vemula, seeks to criminalise discrimination against students from Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and religious minorities in educational institutions. The special rapporteurs come under the purview of the 'special procedures' of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC); they are 'independent human rights experts' who are mandated by the UN to report and advise on 'human rights from a thematic or country-specific perspective'. Under their special mandate from the UNHRC, they have highlighted 'several human rights considerations that should be considered during the ongoing development of the legislation'. UN concerns on the draft Bill The special rapporteurs stated that the draft Bill does not mention 'specific protection for Dalits and Adivasis against disproportionate discrimination in various areas' and urged the drafting committee to 'explicitly' include provisions for their protection. Ashwini K.P., replying to an email questionnaire by The Wire, said: 'The current draft clubs OBCs, SC, ST and minority communities together. All of them face marginalisation, but it's crucial to understand and recognise the heterogeneous nature of their experiences. The persistent and systematic forms of discrimination that Dalit and Adivasi students face require explicit acknowledgement.' They also claimed that there is a lack of definition for 'direct or indirect discrimination', which could result in the law failing to provide 'comprehensive protection' to those affected. It could also lead to misuse of the law and oppression of activities unrelated to the law, including those in the 'defence of human rights'. The draft includes provisions to imprison a person convicted of discriminating against SC, ST, OBC and minority students for up to one year or impose a fine of Rs 10,000. Heads of higher education institutions will also be held liable, and the institutions may lose government aid or grants in case of such convictions. The punitive nature of the draft law was also criticised. They warned that it may 'undermine the promotion of understanding, tolerance and friendship among racial or ethnic groups'. Focusing on addressing the social roots of caste-based discrimination, the rapporteurs recommended placing greater emphasis on effective 'preventive measures' such as orientation programmes and educational awareness campaigns. To ensure effective implementation, they also recommended setting up a grievance redressal mechanism, ensuring 'protection for whistleblowers' and introducing 'accountability measures' for educational institutions that fail to comply. The special rapporteurs also claimed that the Bill's drafting process has not been sufficiently deliberative and has not included the 'voices of those who may experience caste-based discrimination and harassment, including Dalit and Adivasi students, scholars and activists'. They called upon the committee to introduce provisions that make the process more transparent, consultative and participatory. Finally, the rapporteurs noted the need for diversity and proportional representation in the drafting committee itself and urged that there be 'proportionate caste, gender and geographical representation from the state of Karnataka in the committee'. The political equation The move to draft this law comes after leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, wrote a letter to the three Congress-led state governments in April urging them to enact the law that was promised in the party's 2024 Lok Sabha election manifesto. Following this, Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah instructed his legal adviser to prepare a draft of the Bill. 'The Union government brushed the incident under the carpet although it was clear that Rohith Vemula was targeted because of his [Dalit] caste,' said minister Priyank Kharge confirming that he provided inputs for drafting the Bill. However, Ashwini claimed that the Indian government 'has not approached the UNHRC or any other international bodies for recommendations'. Meanwhile, the BJP's leader of opposition in the Karnataka legislative council, Chalavadi Narayanaswamy, agreed that caste-based discrimination should be banned but questioned whether such discrimination can be addressed solely through legislation. This is not the first time that such a demand has been raised. In 2019, Radhika Vemula and Abeda Tadvi – the mothers of Rohith Vemula and Payal Tadvi – filed a petition in the Supreme Court demanding that the government enforce the 2012 University Grants Commission (UGC) regulations that aim to protect vulnerable students from discrimination in educational institutions. The UGC guidelines also have a specific definition of 'discrimination' and various kinds of discriminatory behaviour, but in January 2025, after the case was heard only for the second time, the UGC released new draft regulations intended to replace the 2012 ones. N. Sukumar, a professor at Delhi University, noted in an interview to Scroll that in the new draft, 'these terms are loosely defined'. When the various aspects of the problem are not properly defined, 'there is hardly any scope to address the issues of caste on the campus.' Rohith Vemula and a legacy of institutional violence Vemula, a PhD scholar belonging to Dalit community at the University of Hyderabad, was among five students suspended in September 2015 following a complaint filed by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the BJP's ideological fountainhead. His monthly research fellowship of Rs 25,000 was also discontinued, reportedly due to his activities in the Ambedkar Students' Association. The ABVP's complaint was forwarded by then-Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya to then-human resource development minister Smriti Irani, who subsequently asked the university to take appropriate action. Following their suspension and removal from university housing, the students began a relay hunger strike and stayed in a temporary tent on campus. On January 17, 2016, Vemula died by suicide, leaving behind a note in which he expressed a deep sense of disillusionment and described his birth as a 'fatal accident'. His death was one amongst numerous such incidents in the past two decades where a Dalit student was allegedly pushed over the edge and died by suicide. Activists consider these to be 'institutional murders', since every part of the education institution – including the student body, the faculty and the administration – are said to work in tandem to make sure that caste hierarchies are upheld and no voices can be raised against it. This leaves the student completely cornered. Some say that caste-based discrimination, humiliating abuse and alienation by peers have pushed students like Payal Tadvi, Darshan Solanki, Ayush Ashna and Varad Sanjay Nerkar over the edge. They were allegedly targeted for belonging to a certain caste and viewed as not fit to be in such institutions. There are no avenues for redressal of complaints as well, since the administration too engages in suppressing their voices, activists say. While a few of these cases received media attention, many others were recorded through an independent study by the Delhi-based Insight Foundation, led by educationist Anoop Kumar. Path ahead Ashwini claims that 'currently there is no specific legislation in India which addresses caste-based discrimination in higher education for Dalit and Adivasi students. While some mechanisms such as grievance redressal cells exist in colleges and universities, there is no exclusive framework to protect students from marginalised backgrounds in academic spaces.' Therefore, although some critics believe that the draft Rohith Vemula (Prevention of Exclusion or Injustice) (Right to Education and Dignity) Bill is a politically motivated move by the Congress, Ashwini believes that 'the intention behind the Rohith Vemula Act is to fill this gap and ensure a safe space for students coming from marginalised backgrounds'. Such a law becomes crucial in an education system where, according to her, 'student suicides among marginalised communities highlight the disproportionate discrimination faced by them'. She claims that there is a pattern of structural exclusion and systematic discrimination against Dalit and Adivasi students, and that this legislation is important to create a 'safer academic environment' for them. But critics also raise questions of political motivation and appropriation of the long-fought struggles of activists like Radhika Vemula and Abeda Tadvi in creating an equitable and safe educational space by Rahul Gandhi and the Congress. According to the UNHRC special rapporteurs, the draft law has the potential to make effective changes – but this can only be realised if such expert criticism and recommendations are taken into account and the drafting process becomes more publicly participatory. Tamoghna Chakraborty is an intern at The Wire. If you know someone – a friend or a family member – at risk of suicide, please reach out to them. The Suicide Prevention India Foundation maintains a list of telephone numbers they can call to speak in confidence. The TeleManas helpline, a government helpline, functions 24×7, its numbers are 1-800 891-4416 or 14416. You could also take them to the nearest hospital.
Time of India
31 minutes ago
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Iran TRAINS Advanced Missiles At Israel, Humiliates ‘Fake News' On Arsenal Stockpile
Indus Water War Heats Up: Now Omar Abdullah Refuses To Divert Water To Punjab, Congress Hits Back A fresh water dispute has erupted between Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab, just weeks after Punjab's clash with Haryana. This time, it's over the proposed 113 km canal to divert surplus Indus water from J&K to Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan to prevent it from flowing to Pakistan. J&K CM Omar Abdullah has rejected the idea, saying Jammu itself faces water scarcity. 'Why should I send water to Punjab?' he asked, reminding that Punjab already has three rivers under the Indus Waters Treaty. He also invoked the decades-old Shahpur Kandi barrage dispute, insisting J&K won't give up more water. Reacting sharply, Congress MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa accused Abdullah of undermining Punjab's sacrifice and patriotism, pointing to Punjab's suffering during Operation Sindoor, saying 'Pakistan attacked Punjab more than Jammu & Kashmir.' The conflict exposes deeper fault lines in India's federal water-sharing model, raising questions of equity, national interest, and regional politics — especially with Pakistan watching closely as India attempts to control its Indus water allocations.#waterdispute #punjabvsjk #induswaters #shahpurkandi #operationsindoor #omarabdullah #sukhjinderrandhawa #toi #toibharat #bharat #breakingnews #indianews 6.0K views | 5 hours ago
The Hindu
32 minutes ago
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‘Youth from families who benefited from land reforms, welfare schemes are now swayed by Hindutva politics'
Youth belonging to second and third generation of families that benefited from the land reforms of the 1970s and other welfare schemes now embracing Hindutva ideology is among the factors responsible for the religious polarisation of communities in the coastal region, especially in Dakshina Kannada, according a legislator who was part of the KPCC's fact-finding committee that toured the region and looked into this issue. To counter Hindutva politics, Muslim youth too have been polarising the community on religious identity and the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) has been sowing seeds of 'communal politics' by raising funds, actively mobilising and organising the youth, the legislator said. Interim report The KPCC committee, which visited Dakshina Kannada district and met people from all walks of life — from politicians to ordinary citizens — submitted its interim report to party State president and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Thursday. The legislator told The Hindu that a large section of the backward classes families in the district benefited from the land reforms introduced by the Congress government led by the late D. Devaraj Urs. The next generations of these families, both educated and uneducated, are 'intoxicated by the Hindutva ideology', he said. Hindutva groups have consolidated power by waging hate campaigns against minorities citing what they call historical incidents, the legislator said. 'Soft attitude' A 'soft attitude' towards Hindutva activists by government officials and the police force and the absence of credible Congress leadership in the region has given rise to communal tendencies, he said. 'The Muslims are asking us what have you (Congress) given to us and we are surprised,' the leader said. The BJP won seven of the eight Assembly constituencies in Dakshina Kannada district in the 2023 elections. The BJP also won the Dakshina Kannada and Udupi-Chikkamagaluru Lok Sabha seats. Noting a strong presence of religious-based identities among the people, the member said, 'It is difficult to find any prevalence of the secular ideas in the region.' Ways of mobilising Besides increased religious events these days among Hindu and Muslim communities, the member said Hindus have been mobilised and organised through temple renovation programmes, bhajana mandali events and holding functions such as seminars and talks by inviting well-known Hindutva leaders. The BJP leaders have indulged in 'negative' politics to counter the 'positive' developments raised by the Congress, the leader claimed. Mangaluru and the regions surrounding it have witnessed three back-to-back murders: the mob lynching of 38-year-old Ashraf from Kerala, the hacking to death of 30-year-old double murder accused Suhas Shetty, and the killing of 32-year-old Abdul Rahiman, general secretary of a local masjid committee. All these deaths ignited communal passions in the region. Following these crimes, the State government has set up a special action force in the sensitive districts of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, and Shivamogga.
