Karnataka High Court directs State government to submit Commission report on Chinnaswamy Stadium stampede   

The High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday directed the State government to submit in sealed cover the report of the John Michael Cunha Commission of Inquiry on the incident of stampede that occurred outside M. Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru on June 4.

A Division Bench comprising Justice Jayant Banerji and Justice Umesh M. Adiga issued the direction on a petition filed by DNA Entertainment Networks Pvt. Ltd., which has challenged the legality of the procedure adopted by the Commission in conducting the inquiry.

Request by government

Meanwhile, Senior Advocate B.K. Sampath Kumar, appearing for DNA Networks, told the bench that the function to facilitate the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) team on the steps of Vidhana Soudha on June 4 was also arranged by DNA Networks on the request made by the State government.

It may be noted that DNA is the event manager for the Royal Challengers Sports Pvt. Ltd., which owns RCB cricket team.

The petitioner-company has questioned the legality of the Commission’s report while alleging that the Commission had violated the principles of natural justice and contrary to the provisions of the Commissions of Inquiry (COI), 1952, as no opportunity to cross-examine the witnesses was given to DNA Networks.

Reputation impacted

Mr. Kumar also contended that the reputation of the company has been severely affected due to the continued publication of the Commission’s report in all forms of media, as it appears that the media has all the details of the Commission’s report, even though the petitioner-company was not given a copy despite multiple requests.

Meanwhile, the State Advocate-General Shashi Kiran Shetty argued that DNA Network will have to approach the civil court against the media publications on the commission’s report, while stating that the Government has nothing to do with publications in the media citing the Commission’s report.

DNA Network, in its petition, has claimed that the report of the Commission was leaked to the media but not given to the company, while pointing out that even the applications filed by it under the RTI Act have also been rejected.