Bengaluru: The Central Administrative Tribunal on Tuesday abolished the suspension order of senior IPS officer Vikash Kumar Viko and held Royal Challengers Bangalore responsible for the “unpredictable market” outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium, causing 11 fans on June 4.CM Siddaramaiah said that there is scope to appeal against the order, showing that the government will pursue legal options.After stampede and public outrage, the state government suspended Vikash (Inspector General of Police, West, Bangalore city) and four other officers, including Bangalore (City) Police Commissioner B Dayanand on 5 June.Cat, a semi-judic body that redresses the complaints of the officials, said that the government passed the suspension order in a “mechanical manner” and said that the police personnel were only human and not ‘God’ or ‘magicians’.Tribunal says The tribunal noticed that RCB gathered outside the stadium, “3 to 5 lakh people”, which had a capacity of 35,000, for inviting people through social media posts. Prima Facial, it appears that the RCB was responsible for the meeting of lakhs of people without permission or consent from the police. “On June 4, due to lack of time, the police was unable to make proper arrangements. The police was not given enough time,” a cat bench in which judicial member Justice BK Srivastava and administrative member Santosh Mehra saw.Kat said that police personnel are human and not with ‘God’ or ‘Magicians’ not with ‘Aladdin’s lamp’ (Aladdin’s magic lamp). To control such a gathering and make proper arrangements, the police should be given enough time, the tribunal said, while the suspension of the Vikash is reduced.On 9 June, Vicko had shifted CAT, stating that any mistake could not be held responsible for him because the suspension order showed himself a lack of time to prepare for a huge event. He further stated that the order was issued without a show-causal notice and said that suspension is an extreme remedy in cases of serious misconduct.The state government had said, according to the police manual, the primary duty of the police is to stop the crime. The incidents for the tragedy Prima Feshi suggested the lack of policing from the Bangalore city police. The tribunal said that KSCA had presented only one letter, which had no request to seek or arrange permission. Therefore, it was not expected that the police would suddenly make all arrangements. At the time of passing the order, there was no material suggesting the negligence of the police officers concerned, Kat said.
