It happens again. People gather to celebrate, to pray, to watch, or to cheer, and before the sun sets, screams fill the air, sandals lie scattered, and bodies are heaped together. Another stampede. Another tragedy. And yes, another round of blame. The organisers are blamed, the party in power is blamed, but somehow, the real culprits—the ones paid by us to protect us—walk away untouched.
The police.
Now before someone in uniform begins polishing his medals angrily, let me ask a few simple questions. Did they check the barricades the day before? Did they make sure that the crowd paths were clear? Did they post enough men to control the surge? Did their intelligence wings tell them how many people were expected? The answer, in most cases, is no. Because that would require hard work.
Today’s police are quick to draw guns, but slow to draw plans. They would rather shoot a so-called criminal and proudly label it an encounter than spend long hours mapping crowd movement or checking safety rails. After all, encounters make headlines, while preventing a tragedy does not even make the corner of a newspaper.
There was a time when a policeman’s khaki stood for discipline, vigilance, and pride. But now, too often, it has come to stand for shortcuts and shirking. Instead of building proper cases with evidence and witnesses, they arrest the wrong people just to show “results.” Instead of protecting citizens, they protect their perks. And the ordinary citizen, who only wanted to go to a temple or see a cricket victory parade, pays the price with his life.
It is time we stop treating stampedes as acts of God. They are acts of negligence. Acts of lazy planning. Acts of poor policing. The same police who can appear in full force to clear peaceful protestors with lathis somehow disappear when thousands gather at a religious event. The same police who escort political rallies with hundreds of men cannot spare a few constables to manage the crowd at a temple festival.
When did crowd control stop being their duty? When did public safety become someone else’s job?
Every stampede should be treated as a crime, and the first accused should be the police officer in charge of the area. Let there be accountability. Let there be suspensions, inquiries, and prosecutions. Because when you start punishing negligence, you start preventing it.
We taxpayers fund their salaries, their vehicles, and even their uniforms. Is it too much to ask that they protect us with diligence instead of shortcuts?
The next time you read about another stampede, look beyond the excuses. It is not fate. It is not divine will. It is failure—failure by those sworn to serve and protect.
And if we do not demand accountability now, someday one of us could be that “unidentified body” taken to a morgue—simply because we went to pray, to celebrate, or to cheer…!
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Robert Clements is a newspaper columnist and writes a daily column, which has graced the pages of over 60 newspapers and magazines, from a daily column in the Khaleej Times, Dubai, the Morning Star, London, and in nearly every state in India, from The Statesman in Kolkata, to the Kashmir Times in Kashmir to the Trinity Mirror in Chennai.
Absolutely right!
Maybe their perks and job should be equated financially to how many innocent lives were affected due to their negligence and irresponsibility. They should be fired instead of “being transferred” which is preposterous.
In the year 2004 while riding a Bus a Pivkpocket stole my purse from back of my pocket. I immediately got down from the Bus and ran after the pickpocket I was shouting and following him ,he wanted to hand over the pocket to another person who must be his partner. But he refused to take it and purse feel down. I immediately picked my purse which was having cash, my licence and my personal diary. There was a police man on duty roaming. He heard me shouting and ignored me and moved away. I was in a hurry to come back to catch the bus because my wife had already occupied the seat and I narrated her the whole incident. I was highly grateful 🙏🏻 to GOD my purse was given back to me by HIM. Sitting traveller were listening me. And brought to my notice that in Himachal this is very common there is Gang of thieves including Police. Pick pocket share their bounty with police. It’s shocking affair. Police with Khaki uniform and muscle power are dacoity. Of course there’s few HONEST policeman and officers. We have to be cautious ourselves.
What an incredible story. Thanks for sharing Mr Kukreja.
As a rejoinder, I must highlight their political proximity and power games because of which most ordinary citizens hesitate to file an FIR. For all you know, the situation might worsen. A sad state of affairs which remains unresolved.
Stampede disasters are neither fate nor divine punishment.
They are the result of poor planning, negligence, and a sheer disregard for public safety—especially by the authorities and the police, whose duty it is to protect, not just react.
The title of this column sent shivers down my spine. Picturing the scenes only made it worse! It is a shame and an act of total negligence when innocent lives are lost and no one is held accountable. The guardians of law and order least of all.