Today, the Supreme Court dismissed a public interest litigation concerning the Hathras Stampede incident, emphasizing that not every issue needs to be brought under Article 32, which guarantees the right to approach the Supreme Court for the enforcement of fundamental rights. The Court underscored the strength of the High Courts, noting their capability to handle such matters effectively.

"Everything does not have to come in a PIL under Article 32; you file in the High Court. The idea of all this is to make a sort of big deal about incidents which take place. Obviously (they are) very disturbing incidents. High Courts are robust Courts, they are meant to deal with these kinds of matters," Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud told the petitioner Advocate Vishal Tiwari.

Accordingly, the bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra granted the petitioner the liberty to approach the relevant High Court for further proceedings.

"Liberty to move the Competent HC in exercise of the jurisdiction under A 226 of the Constitution.," the Court ordered.

The stampede occurred in Hathras on July 2 during a prayer meeting led by self-styled godman Suraj Pal, also known as Narayan Sakar Har, resulting in the tragic death of approximately 121 people, according to reports.

Advocate Vishal Tiwari filed a PIL seeking the appointment of a five-member expert committee supervised by a retired Supreme Court judge to investigate the incident.

Additionally, the petition urged the Court to direct the State of Uttar Pradesh to submit a status report on the incident and to take legal action against individuals, authorities, and officials responsible for any negligent conduct.

To prevent future incidents of this nature, Tiwari also requested the court to direct state governments to issue guidelines specifically for managing large public gatherings effectively.

“Such incident prima facie depicts the serious condition of responsibility lapse, negligence and unfaithful duty of care towards to the public by the government authorities. From past decade various incidents have taken place in our country wherein due to the mismanagement, lapse in duty, negligent maintenance activities, there has been cases of huge public casualties which could have been avoided yet due to such arbitrary and undone actions have led to such work.,” plea stated.

Case Details: Vishal Tiwari v. Union of India and Others., W.P.(C) No. 428/2024