As many as 112 people were killed and over 120 injured in a stampede during Navratri festivities near a temple in Madhya Pradesh’s Datia district on Sunday. The stampede broke out after rumours that a bridge that the devotees were crossing was about to collapse.
Deputy Inspector-General (DIG) of Police, Chambal Range, DK Arya while talking to The Pioneer over the issue said: “89 people were killed in the stampede on the bridge over Sindh river leading to the temple at Ratangarh, where lakhs of devotees had congregated. The stampede began following rumours by some unidentified persons that the bridge was collapsing.”
However, Datia district’s Chief Medical Officer RS Gupta said autopsies on 112 bodies were conducted till late in the night. The State Government has ordered a judicial enquiry into the mishap. The festivities turned into a tragedy as the devotees from Datia and neighbouring Uttar Pradesh thronged the Durga temple to offer prayers on the occasion of Navratri at Ratangarh, about 60 kms from district headquarters here and around 320 kms away from the State Capital.
Unconfirmed reports said that the stampede took place as some people were trying to jump the queue and police used batons to control them. Arya said nearly 100 people have been injured in the mishap and they have been rushed to nearby hospitals. Heart-rending scenes were witnessed as anxious relatives searched for their loved ones from the large number of bodies that lay on the bridge.
The irate crowd, protesting over the incident, pelted stones and clashed with the cops following which police were forced to use batons to disperse them. Amid the ensuing chaos, police and local volunteers had a tough time trying to bring the situation under control. A sub-divisional police officer suffered serious injuries after being hit by stones, the DIG said, adding that some other policemen were also injured. The situation has been brought under control, Arya said.
The State Government, with the approval of the State Election Commission in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, has announced compensation to the kin of those killed in the stampede and also for the injured. A large number of devotees had thronged the Ratangarh temple of Goddess Durga for prayers, when the stampede occurred following overcrowding on a narrow bridge across the Sindh river.
An eyewitness said police personnel used batons to control the surging crowd and this led to the crowd stampeding. In the stampede, some of the devotees are feared to have fallen off the bridge into the river flowing below. Datia legislator and Senior Minister of the State Cabinet Narottam Mishra, who is also the State Government spokesman, said the stampede did not occur due to alleged police baton charge, but following a rumour that the bridge was collapsing. He said he was on his way to Ratangarh to oversee the rescue operation.
The Ratangarh Durga Mata temple is located in dense forest on the bank of Sindh river, in Datia district. Every year thousands of devotees flock the temple during the Navratri festival. The maximum crowds are witnessed on the last day of the nine-day festive period