'Do Not Blame Students' Kerala High Court On CUSAT Stampede

Kochi: The Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) students who hosted the tech fest 'DHISHNA' on November 25 should not be blamed for the stampede that broke out during the event, ruled the Kerala High Court on Tuesday. The stampede claimed the lives of four students and injured sixty-four others.

During the hearing of a petition submitted by the Congress student organization KSU, which called for a judicial investigation into the incident, Justice Devan Ramachandran made the observation.

"I don’t want any blame game on any students, it will leave a big impact on them. The families are robbed of their existence. No students should be scarred. No students who organised the event should be blamed. The minds of the young children should not be subjected to a blame game. The young people have to live...Unfortunately, we react after the incident. Accidents don’t happen on purpose. Fingers point to some system failure. I want to know what enquiries are going on," he stated.

As reported by IANS, the Additional Advocate General and the government pleader were instructed by the court to obtain information regarding the types of investigations that the state government has already started.

KSU President Alosyious Xavier submitted the plea, claiming that the Vice Chancellor, Registrar, and Principal of CUSAT were among the university officials whose actions led to the occurrence.

The petition pointed out that the amphitheater's single point of access and exit was one of the reasons for the stampede, and that officials failed to uphold safety procedures.