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Stampede of 250,000 at Religious Event Leaves Over 120 Dead; Organizers to Face ‘Strict Punishment’
By Dave Malyon,
13 days ago
A religious gathering in Hathras, northern India , resulted in at least 121 fatalities and 35 injuries following a stampede involving a crowd of 250,000 people.
As a result, Knewz.com has learned, Bhole Baba – the self-styled godman at the center of the event – and his organizers are currently being pursued by the police .
One of the devotees being helped away from the scene. By: X/@upuknews1
The disaster transpired at an organized prayer meeting in India’s most populated province of Uttar Pradesh.
Things took a turn for the worse when the crowd pushed forward in an attempt to touch Baba’s feet causing dozens of people to fall into a nearby sewer and die.
Notably, while most of the victims were women, at least seven children were among the dead.
Local authorities attribute the disaster to their initial belief of 80,000 people attending the event. Consequently, the police deployed 40 officers to the location which was observably less than needed to control the crowd.
Law enforcement officials have since launched a manhunt for Baba and his organizers.
Women attend to the bodies of the dead following the stampede at the Hathras gathering. By: X/@upuknews1
CNN News saw the police report on the incident and noted that the charges against the event’s organizers included non-adherence to the district authority’s rules and exceeding stipulated attendance limits.
Shakuntala Devi who witnessed and survived the ordeal, told The Associated Press “People started falling one upon another, one upon another. Those who were crushed died. People there pulled them out.”
Binod Sokhna lost his mother, daughter, and wife in the incident. He said: “My son called me and said, ‘Papa, mother is no more. Come here immediately.’ My wife is no more.”
Minister of State Education, Sandeep Singh, has since released a statement to the press saying that there had been a “major lapse on the part of the organizers,” and that they would “face a strict punishment,” for their oversights which led to the deaths of so many.
Crowds at the Hathras gathering before the chaos broke out on July 2. By: X/@ARanganathan72
Baba, the sought-after religious celebrity , has now also become a priority for the police. According to another witness and local resident who helped out amidst the carnage, Sonu Kumar, “He [Baba] sat in his car and left. And his devotees here fell one upon another.”
“The screams were so heart-wrenching. We have never seen anything like this before in our village,” Kumar recalled.
CNN News reported that police have since been looking for Baba and accused his event organizers of “culpable homicide not amounting to murder, wrongfully restraining a person.”
Said organizers allegedly tried to disguise the scope of the disaster by gathering all the shoes and clothes abandoned by devotees during the crush.
India Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also weighed in on the disaster saying that there were government teams in attendance to assist those in need. By: MEGA
The local police are also pursuing charges for these actions claiming that said culprits caused the “disappearance of evidence” and provided “false information.”
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also spoken on the matter saying that his government was doing “relief and rescue work” to help the victims where they need it, per CNN News .
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