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Synopsis

A letter petition was filed today before the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court regarding the tragic Hathras stampede at a 'Satsang', resulting in the deaths of 121 devotees due to suffocation on July 2.

Advocate Gaurav Dwiwedi, a practicing lawyer at the high court, submitted a Public Interest Litigation and urged the court to take suo motu cognizance of the issue.

In addition to calling for a CBI investigation into the incident, the lawyer has requested the court to direct the suspension of the District Magistrate, Commissioner, Senior Superintendent of Police, and Station House Officer of Phulrai village in Hathras.

This action is sought due to alleged negligence by the district administration in implementing preventive measures, despite having adequate mechanisms to manage and prevent such emergencies.

"...for better administration state government is spending so much public money on the new techniques and time to time Chief minister of Uttar Pradesh also review the law order through video conferencing but the Hathras administration along with all responsible officers who are duty bound for maintaining law and order in the society in order to provide the safety to the peoples of their district has failed and it is not believable that their Local Intelligence Unit (LIU) was sleeping and we can say overlooked the law and order of District Hathras," the plea states.

The lawyer expressed grave concern for the upcoming Prayagraj Mahakumbh, the world's largest religious gathering scheduled for 2025, citing the law and order situation regarding Hindu devotees as witnessed in the Hathras incident.

The incident occurred on July 2nd at Village Phulrai of Sikanda Rau tehsil during Bhole Baba's Satsang. When Bhole Baba was exiting the venue, the stampede occurred. In their initial response to the massive casualties, the police said overcrowding led to the stampede as was in a video being widely circulated on social media.

"As per the information that we have received so far, the deaths of 116 people have been confirmed and 18 are injured," the police stated.

The government's take is that the number of attendees exceeded the administration's permitted limit at the venue, leading to a stampede.

Case Title: Adv Gaurav Dwivedi v. State of UP and others