Hathras Crowd Crush: 121 Dead at Bhole Baba Prayer Meeting
On Tuesday, a devastating crowd crush at a religious gathering in Hathras district, India, led to the deaths of at least 121 people, predominantly women. The incident occurred during a satsang, or prayer meeting, for the Hindu guru Bhole Baba, who is also known as Suraj Pal. The event attracted 250,000 devotees, with around 80,000 allowed into the main venue, a field designated for the prayer meeting.
Many attendees had congregated in a makeshift tent erected on muddy terrain. Bhole Baba, a Dalit, draws numerous followers from “lower castes,” including a large number of women and the poor.
The situation turned chaotic when Bhole Baba left the stage and exited the tent to get into his car after the prayer session. As devotees rushed to touch his feet or the ground he had walked on, a stampede ensued. Police reports indicate that many people were trampled and suffocated, with some falling into an adjacent mud field and being crushed.
Sandip Kumar Singh Lodhi, Uttar Pradesh’s education minister, confirmed the deaths of 121 individuals. Senior police officer Shalabh Mathur reported that more than 80 others were injured and taken to hospitals. The state’s police chief, Prashant Kumar, stated that 112 women were among the deceased, and UP’s chief secretary, Manoj Kumar Singh, confirmed that seven children also lost their lives.
The stampede occurred in a paddy field next to a busy highway in Hathras, located about 200km southeast of New Delhi. Uttar Pradesh is renowned for its religious and cultural significance, recently highlighted by the consecration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
Experts cite inadequate preparations and lack of coordination by the event organizers and authorities as key factors in the tragedy. Dr. AP Pradeepkumar from the University of Kerala pointed out the insufficient staffing of the National Disaster Response Force for managing such emergencies. Sanjay Srivastava, a disaster management expert, noted the lack of adequate exit routes in the tent and the leniency given to private religious bodies in organizing public events.
Authorities have filed a First Information Report against the event organizers and are searching for Bhole Baba, whose current location is unknown. UP’s Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has visited Hathras to meet the victims’ families, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences and prayers for the injured on social media.
Source link: https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2024/7/3/more-than-120-killed-mostly-women-in-india-stampede-at-religious-event
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