New Delhi: Calling it lack of sensitivity and propriety, the Supreme Court on Monday criticized Justice N Senthilkumar of the Madras High Court for entertaining petitions on the Karur stampede at actor-politician Vijay’s rally and ordering an SIT probe.
A bench of Justices J K Maheshwari and N V Anjaria said, surprisingly, the single judge of the high court, without adverting to the prayer made in a petition before it, directed the state government to come up with the guidelines concerning the collection of security deposits from the political parties that intend to have huge public meetings or demonstrations.
The top court noted that the Karur stampede falls within the jurisdiction of the Madurai Bench and asked how the Chennai Bench could have directed an SIT investigation in the matter.
“After perusal of pleadings and reliefs, learned Single Judge has suo moto decided to enlarge the scope of the writ petition, stating extraordinary circumstances require extraordinary measures, even in absence of pleadings and prayer for the constitution of SIT.
“Single Judge made some observations about the Karur stampede. In the writ petition, the TVK and its members were not made party and without joining the necessary parties and affording opportunity, the order impugned has been passed,” the bench said.
Hearing a plea by Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam for an independent probe, the apex court said the single judge took suo moto cognizance and recorded the finding of non-satisfaction with respect to progress or independence of the investigation and directed for the formation of SIT consisting of the officers of the state.
“The judgement is completely silent about how the Single Judge arrived at such a conclusion and what material was perused by the Court. The said order mainly refers to the submissions made by the Ld. Additional Advocate General.
“Pertinently, the Karur stampede falls within the jurisdiction of the Madurai Bench where writ petitions, seeking investigation by the CBI and also formation of SIT were filed and heard by a Division Bench on the same date. Such being the case, there was no occasion for the learned Single Judge of the Main Seat of the Madras High Court to entertain WP Crl. No. 1000 of 2025, without orders of the Chief Justice of the High Court in that regard,” the bench said.
The top court said it was unable to understand why the single judge constituted an SIT, suo moto, without referring any documents or assigning any reasons, and recorded dissatisfaction with the progress and independence of the investigation.
“Thus, from the above, it is clear that the Division Bench at Madurai denied the CBI investigation, holding that the investigation by the local police is not flawed, while the learned Single Judge at the Main Seat, dissatisfied with the police investigation, directed for constitution of SIT. Such recourse prima facie indicates the lack of sensitivity and propriety to deal with such a matter, creating multiplicity of proceedings, for the reasons best known to the Hon’ble Judges,” the bench said.
The TVK has sought an independent investigation under the supervision of the Supreme Court, contending that a fair and impartial probe would not be possible if conducted solely by officers of the Tamil Nadu Police.
The TVK’s plea objected to the high court constituting a special investigation team only with officers of the Tamil Nadu police. It alleged the possibility of a pre-planned conspiracy by some miscreants that led to the stampede.
The plea also took exception to the scathing remarks of the high court against the party and the actor-politician that they abandoned the place after the incident and did not express any remorse.
Earlier, the police said the rally saw a turnout of 27,000, nearly three times the expected 10,000 participants, and blamed a seven-hour delay by Vijay in reaching the venue for the tragedy.
