Kumbh stampede: PIL seeks setting up judicial monitoring panel to get 'missing' persons' details

Prayagraj: A public interest litigation has been filed before the Allahabad High Court, seeking the constitution of a judicial monitoring committee to collect details of people who reportedly went missing during the January 29 stampede at the Maha Kumbh.

In the PIL, petitioner Suresh Chandra Pandey of Prayagraj district referred to the reports suggesting that the bodies of the stampede victims were being stored in appalling conditions.

They are reportedly left on the floor, wrapped in gunny bags, with no provisions for refrigeration leading to decomposition, it claimed.

A day before this PIL was filed in the high court, the Supreme Court on February 3 refused to entertain a PIL seeking action against Uttar Pradesh state officials for the stampede.

The Supreme Court had asked the petitioner to approach the Allahabad High Court.

In the early hours of January 29, a huge crowd broke through barriers at the Maha Kumbh and trampled over devotees who had been waiting overnight at the ghats to take a holy dip on the occasion of Mauni Amavasya, one of the most auspicious days of the Hindu calendar.

Nearly 18 hours after the incident, the Mela administration, in a brief press conference, confirmed that 30 people had died and 60 were injured in the stampede.

The Uttar Pradesh government has formed a three-member judicial commission, chaired by retired Allahabad High Court judge Justice Harsh Kumar to probe the January 29 stampede. The panel has invited people to provide information on the incident.