STAMPEDE: A MASSACRE

INTRODUCTION:

In the last few years, India has seen many disasters such as earthquakes, storms, and floods but these disasters are natural disasters apart from that India has seen many other non-natural disasters that occur from human activities such as war, viruses, the stampede of them which leads so much destruction of life and property. Stampede is a deadly human activity performed by individuals in public places where masses were gathered for religious, ceremonial, and festival celebrations or to perform their cultural activities, and also those saints who gave religious teachings where lots of people gathered to attain it[1]. According to the dictionary meaning of stampede refers to a wild headlong rush or flight of frightened animals. But we generally only talk about human stampede.

UNDERSTANDING STAMPEDE:

Stampede is not a natural phenomenon its occurs just because of mismanagement and lack of effective measures taken by authorities. Upton 79% of stampede activities occurred in India due to religious festivals, [2]a good example is the Kumbh mela where a lot of devotees come to take a bath in the holy of Sangam. The recent incident of 29 January 2025 where almost 30 people were killed and many people injured due to poor barricading, narrow entry/exit, and temporary weak structure, that incident is not new in 1954 another Kumbh Mela event took place which leads 800 people were died and almost 2000 were injured that a very mass massacre and their one of the cause is miss – management of crowd.

CAUSES OF STAMPEDE INCIDENT:[3]

• There are various causes of stampede events from such discussed below:

1. Weak Administration: In crowded places authorities do not do their work properly they do not predict the actual gathering occur in that place which leads miss misunderstanding among the administration.
2. Lack of Safety Measures: The state government has a duty to ensure the safety measures were the event is occurred like fire extinguisher, ventilation, emergency exit if they failed to insure that leads to mass destruction.
3. Poor structure: Authorities ensured the structures were strong like: barricading, roads, Ghats, buildings etc. Because infrastructure is necessary to maintained properly with full safety.
4. Narrow & steep roads: It was a common problem in major cities of India they had narrow roads were huge numbers of people gathered for an event that congested area led to dead lock for number of people.
5. Lack of coordination between authorities: Due to the inadequacy of resources like; speakers, mikes, the public authorities not convey their instructions to common people which leads tussle between masses.

IMPACT OF STAMPEDE:

Stampede activity leads to adverse impacts on the masses there is a lot of destruction or erosion of resources during an event people are in fear again into an event in such gatherings, because many people lost their lives in the event, if that person died earn for the family that leads economic hardship in family. Most people trapped in stampedes or died are weak physically and mentally like women, children, senior citizens, etc.

LAWS RELATED TO STAMPEDE:[4]

Legislative will make the laws to make changes in the legal framework, law is necessary in every field it leads discipline in the life of the common man but making laws not only the work but its implementation is also crucial for the betterment of society. Stampede laws do not specifically target stampede subjects only some provisions refer to negligence or death by negligence in BNS. Stampede is a state subject state that will make the laws related to the subject. Some provisions are the following respectively:

1. BNS(BHARTIYA NAYAYA SANHITA) OR IPC: Section 106 Death by negligence or Section304A: This provision talks about death by negligence due to mismanagement of a crowd, negligence refers to a person negligently injuring another person or hampering the personal life of an individual. Anyone committing negligence would punished by imprisonment for up to 2 years with a fine.

2. DISASTER MANAGEMENT ACT, 2005: There are various provisions which specifically targeted to crowd management and disaster management.

Sections 24 and 34 deal with the management of traffic and crowds from the highly affected areas of cities.

Section 41 provides the function of local authority to ensure the constructional activities under their jurisdiction because that area is highly riskable if any gathering happens nearby area which leads to adverse effect on society.

UP MELA ACT 1938: Various provisions targeting the crowd management clause:

Section 8 gives power to the office in charge to allot the sites of bathing, shops, and entertainment places in mela areas.

Section 9 gives power to the district magistrate to make rules if any incident occurs in mela activities such as fire.

CINEMATOGRAPHER ACT 1952: Section 10 of this act deals with crowd management, cinematographer exhibition to be licensed compulsory and the district magistrate has the authority to make a license for that event.

LOCAL RULES AND GUIDELINES: Local authority has the power to make the guidelines for the management of crowds where they grow to be gathered to prevent incidents and also ensure the safety equipment available in that area.

COURT DISCRETION: Recently incident in Kumbh Mela was the PIL was filed by the association of lawyers but the Supreme Court was dismissed the petition and said go to the high court it is a state matter and every state will insure to make proper guidelines for crowd management.

The court has discretion to give direction to the legislature to make the laws related to any subject which is of public importance. In the case of  Rahul Jain versus Union Of India [5]where the ratnagarh temple stampede was happened in Madhya Pradesh, supreme court issue guidelines to ensure the management of crowd: Planning by local authorities, installation of cctv cameras to monitor crowd, deploying the public authorities to manage the crowd.

3. The Supreme Court has suo moto power to hear the matter which is important for public importance Articles 32 and 142 of the Indian constitution talk about it. In the Kumbh Mela stampede in 2013 were Supreme Court used their suo moto power to hear the case and give direction about precautions.

[6] The judiciary will play its role well, every time there is a matter of public importance so the judiciary will do its work perfectly to maintain justice and equality in society and ensure the dignity of an individual.

SAMPLE OF RECENT INCIDENT OF CROWD DISASTER IN INDIA:[7]

It is data that is revealed in front of the public but the actual data of the incident was too much.     

UNDERSTANDING THE CROWD: India is a densely populated country, organizing an event is a difficult task for organizers as for public authorities, but there are some precautions taken by authorities firstly know your crowd and what type of crowd gathered at an event because according to this management will be done by authorities, for children, women’s and for senior citizen make separate entry and exit and divide the masses according to their physical strength that majorly gives some positive impact to prevent the horrible incident. Before the date of the event a special workshop was held for public officials so they could easily manage the crowd all the safety equipment was checked, That is not all the duty of authorities to manage the crowd people also understand the problem and stand with a free will in a relaxed mind so that they can prevent themselves from a disastrous event, human physiology work differently when the event happens our nerves make in action to escape from the place where the event occurs, people were using force and muscle power to leave the place but that leads apprehension in the mind of others that bodily power will harm others mostly the weak people come into the trap of stampede. So it is necessary to your crowd in an understood able manner. With the advancement of technology, authorities will use modern equipment like drones, cameras, and digital screens so they can easily monitor the crowd.

Safety measures If any incident occurs due to mismanagement of the crowd authorities will ensure the safety equipment like fire extinguishers, ambulances, emergency exits and so on they were properly ready with the measures, make announcements to hold the crowd in their place and restrict movement of a person in another destiny. Control should be properly taken eye in the event no kind of causality occurs by authorities, barricading make sure should be strong because if barricading breaks the crowd comes in a crowded manner which leads to heavy chances of crowd management.

The Big problem of stampedes is suffocation and difficulty in inhaling the oxygen because they have a lack of ventilation facility as well as a huge number of crowds standing here and there which creates difficulty for people.

Kumbh Mela Incident: Kumbh is a Hindu religious festival celebrated by Hindus when they take a bath in the holy river Sangam which is the union of three rivers; Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati The festival held every 12 years of gap which was held in Paraygraj City of Uttar Pradesh. In 2025 stampede event occurred at the Kumbh Mela where a huge number of people took a bath, This was due to the management of the crowd because no proper planning by authorities which led to more than 30 people killed and lots of injured it depicts how we are prepared for the big event just like Kumbh and other like Durga puja, Ganesh Chaturthi, mass gathering is not a new task that is prevalent in society. Authorities will ensure whether the area where they hold an event or mass gathering is capable of holding the capacity of thousands of people or not because death with human negligence of an innocent man leads to so much guilt to the family where that person belongs.

CONCLUSION[8]

Moving towards strong legislation and enactment of laws they had no such body to regulate the management of crowd there has no such legislation made by a legislative body to regulate the management of crowd which proper precautions and safety taken, judiciary and legislation will do their work properly but at the ground level their implementation is weak so we insure both enactment of laws and implementation. Stampede refers to a masses of people moving in the same direction which leads many people will die due to that event authorities will take the proper precautions to prevent the massacre as well and people also hope not panic in that situation and understand the message given by public servant for their management don’t rush in a same direction because in that situation communication is the better way to prevent themselves in a relaxed manner. Authorities will learn from their past events of stampedes to manage the crowd in a better way, announcements will conducted from time to time which creates trust among the masses that authorities will do the work for their betterment. In the area Ghats, the district magistrate will ensure to increase the length of the Ghats where the people are scattered in a whole area of the ghat and no tussle was occurred in between parties, before conducting the event police of that state will review the area and environment which they easily make their plan to successfully conduct the event. Authorities make a proper report of the event and their background in a precise manner to understand the audience or gathered people, India is a land of diverse cultures day to Day-to-day events [9]happen in various religious and cultural places where the masses have gathered the burden of their management lies on public servant because they must manage the crowd and prevent the society from any horrible incident so at last stampede was very horrible event authorities will learn from other events and take proper actions and measures to prevent the event.

Reference(s):

[1] Stampede is a deadly human activity performed by individuals in public places where masses were gathered for religious, ceremonial, and festival celebrations or to perform their cultural activities, and also those saints who gave religious teachings where lots of people gathered to attain it; https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Frederick-Burkle/publication/41041071_Epidemiological_Characteristics_of_Human_Stampedes/links/59e244ed0f7e9b97fbe76403/Epidemiological-Characteristics-of-Human-Stampedes.pdf

[2] Upton 79% of stampede activities occurred in India due to religious festivals, Illiyas, F. T., Mani, S. K., Pradeepkumar, A., & Mohan, K. (2013). Human stampedes during religious festivals: A comparative review of mass gathering emergencies in India. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 5, 10–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2013.09.003

[3] Causes of kumbh stampede,https://www.vajiramandravi.com/upsc-daily-current-affairs/mains-articles/mahakumbh-stampede/

[4] Laws related to stampede ; https://ndma.gov.in/sites/default/files/PDF/Reports/managingcrowdsguide.pdf

[5] Shekhar, M., Shekhar, M., & Bites, L. (2024, July 3). Legal bites. Legal Bites. https://www.legalbites.in/topics/articles/what-are-the-laws-related-to-stampede-in-india-hathras-fiasco-1045130

[6] THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA. (n.d.). THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA. https://www.indiacode.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/15240/1/constitution_of_india.pdf

[7] Shekhar, P. (2025, February 4). Stampede Disaster and its Management in India- Explained Pointwise. Free UPSC IAS Preparation Syllabus and Materials for Aspirants. https://forumias.com/blog/stampede-disaster-and-its-management-in-india-explained-pointwise/

[8] Shekhar, M., Shekhar, M., & Bites, L. (2024b, July 3). Legal bites. Legal Bites. https://www.legalbites.in/topics/articles/what-are-the-laws-related-to-stampede-in-india-hathras-fiasco-1045130

[9] Undefined. (2025, January 31). Stampede. INSIGHTS IAS – Simplifying UPSC IAS Exam Preparation. https://www.insightsonindia.com/2025/01/31/stampede/