A man injured in the September 27 stampede in the political rally of TVK founder Vijay on Sunday moved the Madras High Court with a plea to forbear Tamil Nadu DGP from granting permission to conduct any further public meetings by the party leader until Saturday’s fatal incident was fully investigated, responsibility fixed and effective safety protocols ensured.
The victim pleaded with the HC for a direction to the DGP from granting permission to conduct any further public meetings, rallies or political gatherings by TVK and its leader Vijay till such time. In his petition, Senthilkannan sought to implead himself as a party to the petition filed by TVK, which sought a direction to the Director General of Police (DGP) to forthwith instruct all subordinate police officials throughout the State to consider and grant necessary permissions to it for conducting political campaigns led by Vijay across Tamil Nadu between September 20 and December 20, 2025 on the basis of the petitioner’s representation dated September 9, 2025.
Senthilkannan submitted that the tragedy was not a mere accident but the direct result of reckless planning, gross mismanagement, and complete disregard for the safety of the public. The organisers permitted the crowd to gather without restriction, failed to provide adequate barricades, and positioned the campaign vehicle in a manner that provoked a dangerous surge. The factum of deaths and injuries has been duly recorded on the file of Karur Town Police Station, where an FIR has been registered under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, including Section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), Section 106 (causing death by negligence).
These provisions clearly bring out the gravity of the criminal liability arising from the incident, he added. He said the right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India was sacrosanct and cannot be endangered by the unregulated conduct of political rallies. While Article 19(1)(b) confers the right to assemble, the Constitution itself permits reasonable restrictions in the interest of public order, morality, and safety. The Karur incident was a stark reminder that the unregulated exercise of this right can have catastrophic consequences, resulting in loss of life and serious injuries, he submitted.
The State has a positive obligation to protect citizens from such dangers by enforcing adequate preventive measures and by refusing permissions for such rallies where there was a clear risk to life and public order. He said permitting further rallies by the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) and its founder-leader Vijay, at a time when the Karur tragedy remains under investigation, would amount to placing countless other lives at peril. The public confidence in the State and its machinery would be shaken if, despite the deaths of 40 innocent people, no effective steps were taken to prevent recurrence.
The principle that “justice must not only be done but must also be seen to be done” was of utmost relevance here, and unless preventive directions were issued by this Court, the constitutional promise of protection of life under Article 21 will stand betrayed, he added. He said the ex-gratia announced by the Government (`10 lakh) and the appointment of a Commission of Inquiry under Justice Aruna Jagadeesan, though steps in the right direction, were not sufficient to address the recurring danger.
Unless strict directions were issued to forbear the DGP from granting permissions for further political rallies by the same party and leader until accountability was fixed and adequate safety mechanisms were enforced, another tragedy of equal or greater magnitude may occur, he added. Though a mention was made by senior counsel G Sankaran, appearing for the petitioner before Justice N Senthil Kumar, to take up the petition for early hearing on Sunday evening, it was not done so since it was not numbered.
500 Cops Deployed for karur Rally: ADGP
Karur (Tamil Nadu):Tamil Nadu ADGP (Law and Order) S Davidson Devasirvatham on Sunday said nearly 500 police personnel were deployed for Actor-Politician Vijay’s Karur rally where a stampede claimed lives of 40 people. Referring to the findings of the preliminary investigation, he denied the claims of a section that there was a stone pelting during the rally.
Briefing reporters accompanied by District Collector M Thangavel, the top police officer, said, “In the first petition presented by the TVK on September 23, they asked for the Lighthouse-Roundabout junction for their leader to deliver the address. But, it was rejected as it is a high risk place and if there is a dense crowd, it will be difficult to conduct a meeting,” he said.
Again, TVK had petitioned asking for permission in the Roundabout or Uzhavar Sandhai and it was rejected as it is a ‘narrow area’ and cannot accommodate dense crowd, he said. Police department suggested a place where another public meeting was conducted by the Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami on September 26, in which 12,000 to 13,000 people gathered, he said.
“On September 26 they (TVK) presented another petition and received the approval to hold the meeting where it was held yesterday (September 27)” he said. “As per preliminary investigation, large number of people were arriving at the venue at 12 noon without having breakfast and they did not have lunch as well. No food or water was supplied to them by the organisers,” he said.
“As their (TVK) leader started the campaign behind the scheduled in the morning, he left Namakkal by 4.15 pm and reached the venue at 6pm (in Karur). It was supposed to be a 30 minute journey. But it took almost 2 hours for him. Since, all the people were standing without food and water since morning, they became restless and anxious,” he said. Some of them were travelling behind Vijay’s vehicle and due to this, there was a further delay of an hour for them to reach the designated spot, he said. “It is at that time incident has occurred. We will investigate what led to the incident,” he said.
The police official also clarified that depending upon the crowd, police personnel are deployed for such public meetings. “If there is a loose crowd, one police officer will be deployed for every 10 feet and if there is a standing crowd, one policeman will be there for security for every 5-7 feet. Suppose, if there is a dense crowd, one police man will be there on duty for every 4.5 to 5 feet,” he said.
Similarly, he said, one police man would be deployed for 250-300 people if it falls under low-risk category, and if its moderate category, one police man will be there for security of 100-150 people and if it is high risk category 1 police man is deployed for every 50 people. “For the meeting on September 27 by TVK, nearly 500 police personnel were on duty which include Superintendent of Police, 3 Additional SPs, 4 DSPs, 7 inspectors, 58 sub-inspectors”, he said.
Responding to a query, he said the organisers also should extend their cooperation to the police personnel when there was huge crowd like the one witnessed in Karur on September 27. “As the Vijay’s vehicle was 50 metres away from the speaking spot in Karur, he was instructed by a DSP ranked police officer to stop the vehicle and address the gathering from that place itself. But they did not extend their cooperation and insisted that they go the designated spot,” he said.
“For the AIADMK public meeting on September 26, 137 police personnel were deployed. It was orderly crowd, well regulated and after the meeting the crowd dispersed in a smooth manner,” he said to a query. Giving some statistics of police deployment for the TVK meetings held in other places, Devasirvatham said 650 police personnel were deployed in Tiruchirappalli as it is a city with an airport. For the Ariyalur campaign, 287 police personnel were deployed, in Perambalur 480 police were posted, In Nagapattinam there was a deployment of 410 and in Tiruvarur 413 police personnel were on duty.
For Namakkal meeting on September 27, there were 279 police personnel, he said. He also referred to an incident in Namakkal during the TVK campaign in which 34 people suffered ‘heatstroke’. “They were standing for long hours and still 4 people are under observation in the Government Hospital,” he said. The factum of deaths and injuries has been duly recorded on the file of Karur Town Police Station, where an FIR has been registered under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, including Section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), Section 106 (causing death by negligence).
These provisions clearly bring out the gravity of the criminal liability arising from the incident, he added. He said the right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India was sacrosanct and cannot be endangered by the unregulated conduct of political rallies. While Article 19(1)(b) confers the right to assemble, the Constitution itself permits reasonable restrictions in the interest of public order, morality, and safety. The Karur incident was a stark reminder that the unregulated exercise of this right can have catastrophic consequences, resulting in loss of life and serious injuries, he submitted.
The State has a positive obligation to protect citizens from such dangers by enforcing adequate preventive measures and by refusing permissions for such rallies where there was a clear risk to life and public order. He said permitting further rallies by the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) and its founder-leader Vijay, at a time when the Karur tragedy remains under investigation, would amount to placing countless other lives at peril. The public confidence in the State and its machinery would be shaken if, despite the deaths of 40 innocent people, no effective steps were taken to prevent recurrence.
The principle that “justice must not only be done but must also be seen to be done” was of utmost relevance here, and unless preventive directions were issued by this Court, the constitutional promise of protection of life under Article 21 will stand betrayed, he added. He said the ex-gratia announced by the Government (Rs 10 lakh) and the appointment of a Commission of Inquiry under Justice Aruna Jagadeesan, though steps in the right direction, were not sufficient to address the recurring danger. Unless strict directions were issued to forbear the DGP from granting permissions for further political rallies by the same party and leader until accountability was fixed and adequate safety mechanisms were enforced, another tragedy of