Crowd-mentality and the Stampede tragedies

By

S. Prabhakar

In the recent past, starting from Pushpa2 premier show Tragedy to the Maha Kumbh tragedy in Prayagraj, the cases of stampedes and loss of life and limb of innocent people including women and children have been on the rise.  

Some of the infamous stampede cases that resulted in tragic loss of life and grievous injuries that hogged limelight are:

 

1.       1  On 2^nd July 2024 in a religious gathering by Bhole Baba at Hathras District of UP – there was a stampede – it resulted in 116 people, mostly women and children losing their lives and 80 people were injured and admitted to hospitals

2.      2  A stampede occurred in Tirumala, Andhra Pradesh, in the first week of January 2025, as relatively a small crowd of five thousand gathered to secure tickets for a sacred event – it resulted in the death of 6 devotees and left many injured.   It’s an aberration to TDP, which handles lakhs of devotees on a daily basis right through the year.  

    

3.       3 A stampede at the Maha Kumbh on January 29th, 2025, when a large number of pilgrims reached the sacred Triveni Sangam in Prayagraj to take a holy dip on Mauni Amavasya  - at least 30 pilgrims died and 60 were injured 

4.   4 On15^th February 2025 a stampede occurred at New Delhi Railway Station by a sudden surge of passengers waiting to board trains for Prayagraj - at least 18 people, including five children, were killed and over a dozen were injured

5.       5 On 30 October 2022, a pedestrian suspension bridge over the Machchhu River in the city of Morbi in Gujarat collapsed – resulted in the death of at least 141 people and injuries to more than 180 others

6.       6 In January 2022 a stampede took place at the Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and Kashmir, after a huge crowd of devotees tried to enter the narrow shrine - at least 12 people died and many more were injured

7.       7 On 4^th December 2025 there was a stampede at Sandhya theatre during the premier show of Pushpa2 where the hero of the movie Allu Arjun came with family to watch the movie in the theatre along with fans.   – one woman died and her son was seriously injured.   It was covered on all papers and TV channels not due to the gravity of the tragedy compared to others but Allu Arjun was held responsible, rightly or wrongly and that remained the topic of discussion for over a month

These are a few of the many incidents of stampede incidents that happen at regular intervals  and precious lives of innocent people are lost

 

Why do stampede incidents happen?

Despite the best possible arrangements made and precautions taken by the administration responsible for the place/event, the reasons for the stampede incident happening at such regular intervals are

Population: Like most maladies, the reason for frequent stampede incidents is also attributable to the overblown population and even a minuscule percentage of them intend to visit a place or event it results in turnout in lakhs and in a few cases like Maha Khumb in crores.   

Thronging beyond capacity: Every place, venue and means of transport has its maximum capacity which it can bear.   But people throng such places, and venues and use the means of transport like buses, boats, trains etc., on important festival days, or some special shows quite unmindful of the capacity limitation of such places, venues and means of transport.   Leave alone illiterate, the most educated and so-called intellectuals never give a thought that if we stretch anything beyond its maximum capacity it will break down and may result in a stampede-like situation or freak accidents  The snapping up of a bridge in Gujarat, the boat tragedy in Kerala, due to overcrowding and tilting to one side, the stampede in New Delhi Railway station, due to people tripping at a foot overbridge and many more things can be attributed to these reasons only.   At the religious gathering in Hathras, about 250,000 people showed up for the event, which had permission for at most 80,000

Uncivilised, indisciplined and self-centred behaviour of the people: Howsoever large the crowd could be, howsoever inadequate the arrangements and crowd control by the administration, stampede incidents and unfortunate tragedies can be avoided if the people behave in a civilised, orderly and disciplined manner.    It's not very uncommon that we find people refusing to wear safety jackets, helmets and other safety equipment.   The operators/helpers on the boats, and rides give up after requesting a couple of times, but God forbid if some mishaps happen these people are held responsible and may be arrested as well as happened in the case of a gatekeeper of Balcony of Sandhya theatre who could hardly have done anything to avert the stampede that day.

Name a place in our day-to-day living like Departmental stores, hospitals, metro stations, bus stops, movie theatres, auditoriums and sports stadiums where we do not find people breaking and jumping Queues, trying to get ahead of others, pushing and jostling rather than standing in the Queue in an orderly manner for their turn to come which makes things easy for everyone.   Many times in departmental stores people standing with a lot of items put in a trolly standing in the Queue to make payment, and may be two people away from the payment counter, suddenly jump, push their trollies with lot of grocery items and create chaos the moment it is announced that two more counters are opened at the other end rather than standing in the same Queue for few more minutes and allow the people at the back to go to the newly opened counters.   There is no great or emergency work they have to attend after getting free.  Such behaviour comes out of the basic instinct and sick mentalty of going ahead of others out of turn by forcing their way or flexing muscles.  

Crowd creating and enjoying tendency: The main reason for every place and event right from religious congregations to musical shows, movies, and village fairs getting crowded unmanageably is the psychic of people to create/be part of the crowd and enjoy more being part of the crowd than really having interest and enjoying the proceedings.   It's fashionable and cool for people of all ages, right from children, youth, middle-aged and even old to boast off that they attended a music concert by some `firangi music troupe’ though they may not understand a word of it and are stupid enough not to make out that they are being fooled by the celebrated singers by not singing but lip syncing.   What makes people pay a bomb and go to such shows, but for this mentality only?  Even in Pushpa2 premier show, it was reported that the husband of the lady who unfortunately died in the stampede was doing a petty job at a salary of Rs. 30,000 per month but he could afford to pay Rs. 3000 per ticket for 3 people to catch the premier show.  Had he stayed for one day more and booked tickets in advance online,  he would have got it for Rs. 450 per ticket first day first show and might have avoided the rush and possibility of the stampede, and who knows still might be living happily with the wife.     The same goes for Ram Lilas, cricket and football matches, movie pre-release functions, political rallies, yoga camps and even religious gatherings.  

Whatever the organisers may publicise, all these events do not come only once in a lifetime including Kumbh Melas (except Maha Kumbh Mela).  In India on an average there is a cricket match every third day (if we include all IPL matches), every week there is a pre-release function of a movie, and every week there is a Satsang, the specific auspicious day in the week for Gods and Goddes (like Tuesday for Hanuman, Saturday for Lord Venkateswara, Thursday for Sai baba) come 52 times in a year and the list goes on.    So who says that you have to attend every one of them, If you have gone or taken your children to Ram Lila once or twice it should be good enough you need not go every year and crowd that place.     You may not get any special punya if you go to the Hanuman temple on Tuesdays only.  The Gods are the same and the temples are the same on other days also, go and see to yourself that on all other 6 days of the week, you do not find many.  

In fact, the popular Pavachankarta, Sahasravadhani and Padmashri awardee Shri Garikipati Narasimha Rao many times enlightened people that there is no significance of special days for any Gods and Goddesses and visit the temples on any day and you will get the same solace and Punya as on the so-called special days of the week.    He also said that people are doing the wrong thing and a disservice by going to all `Kumbh Melas’ all over India.   Accordingly, to him, Kumbh melas of different rivers which come once every 12 years is a process of cleaning and dredging the river by a large number of people taking baths there and only those who are living in that geographical area should go to the Kumbh Melas of nearest rivers and others should wait for the turn of Kumbh Mela of the river near to their place.   So it is more of cleaning of River rather than ourselves and all the `paap karmas’ done till that time are not going to be washed away by one dip in Kumbh Mela, allowing a person to open a new account on a clean slate.  If half of the Indian population wants to take a holy dip in Prayagraj going by the claims of the UP Government `once in 144 years’/lifetime experience’ braving huge inconvenience to females, children and senior citizens running the risk of losing life or limb in a stampede, and anything untoward incident happens they have no one except themselves to blame.

I can understand if young, athletic, energetic adventure-seeking men and women undertake such tough and taxing journeys.  But women with children, and old, frail, sick people also throng as if they are doing a sin if they do not go to such places is not understandable.   

 Not letting Police and Administration do their duties: It’s a gigantic and nightmarish task for police and Administration to Plan, put things in place, and manage such heavily crowded events which happen thick and fast.  Hardly a week passes in any big city of India where such events do not take place causing huge stress on the police and administration. Probably India must be the only country, where the Police do less of a policing job and more of a `Bandobash/security’ assignment.   In events like Maha Kumbh Melas, even paramilitary personnel are also deployed.     

As if it is not enough, the police and private security personnel including the bouncers are pushed to the limits to use force to control and mad and misbehaving crowd.    They are caught in a peculiar situation of ‘damned if you do and damned if you don't’.   If police or other security personnel use force they are criticised and condemned for using force without realising the fact that it is used as a last resort only after all their efforts to bring orderliness among the crowd fails and the situation warrants.   If they fear the backlash, and being exposed by the over-jealous and under-employed media it may lead to a stampede-like situation for which too they are blamed for dereliction of duty and not being able to control the crowd properly. 

If the crowds behave in a disciplined and orderly manner, follow the instructions, and signs boards, have the patience to wait for their turn, do not jump the Queue and do not display the `tu janta nahi main kaun hoon, arrogance attitude, it makes the life of Police and administration easy. 

Post stampede Tamasha and look for `the fall guys’

We are so used to such unfortunate incidents of stampedes and other accidents in which precious innocent lives are lost – from one person in Pushpa2 premier show stampede to over 116 in the Hathras incident, the tamasha that takes place is routine and oft-repeated and is as follows:

• Hundreds of news channels with 24-hour non-stop telecasts will take it as a windfall to take care of week to ten days quota of coverage 
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•  The Opposition swings to action if the State is ruled by the opposition party, blaming the Government for poor arrangements and crowd management, blame for protecting the culprits and asking for nothing less than the resignation of the Chief Minister

• ·     The government in power from its side will immediately announce setting up an enquiry commission to investigate and report to it, thus creating a job for a retired judge. 

• ·       The Government will quickly look for some soft targets and make them the fall guys by suspending a few police officers, civil servants, and some junior officers in charge of the place where the accident took place.

• ·       Who will be picked up and who will be made a scapegoat cannot be imagined by even God.   in the Hathras stampede incident where over 116 people died and many more were injured, not even an FIR was registered agaist the  Baba and other organisers and they were let go scot-free though it was their private gathering organised by them and they were responsible for the arrangements.   On the other hand, Allu Arjun coming out of his car while coming to the theatre to watch the movie was treated as trigger point for stampede and he was arrested and put behind bars for a day (despite a clear order by the High Court to release him on bail on the same day) and a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder was slapped on him.    If Allu Arjun can be held guilty for this indirect act of trigging stampede why not the Baba of Hathras?

• ·       The CM other ministers and other political leaders from the opposition will dash to the accident spot and the hospitals and homes of the victims for photo ops

• ·       The CM will announce very generous compensation of Rs.2 to Rs5 lakhs for the families of those who died and may be some Rs. 50,000 for those who were injured.   But strangely when Allu Arun announced Rs. 25 lakhs to the family of the lady who died in a stampede for which he cannot be held responsible remotely, the anti-Allu Arjun brigade, including the CM of Telangana and the ruling party workers demanded and ultimately made him cough up Rs. 2 crores to the victim family other than picking up enter medical expenses and education of the child injured in the incident.    Though any amount of compensation cannot bring back the innocent person (s) who died, as per these guys the value of the life of the deceased depends on who is blamed as a culprit – if it is the Government organised event couple of lakhs and if it is Sushil Ansal or Allu Arjun it’s in crores. 

 

What is the solution?

The only solution to control crowds and reduce the incidents of stampedes and such accidents is by bringing stringent laws against those indisciplined miscreants among the crowds and strict implementation of the same.  

Suspending a few officers and arresting some low-rung workers or high-profile private parties is no solution.   Whether it is the Bridge collapse case in Gurajat or Pushpa2 stampede case lot of painstaking efforts were made to search and arrest the owner of the company maintaining that bridge and framing Allur Arjun respectively, but no one has ever bothered to make few people in the crowd who trigger the stampede responsible.    In every such incident, few people trigger a sudden surge leading to a stampede or accident.   When in a crowded hall Police and the Telangana Govt claim that, with the help of CC cameras they could find out that Allu Arjun was laughing and enjoying the movie when the stampede happened outside the theatre, they could very well find out through the help of CC cameras who among the crowd had triggered the stamped and haul them up and slap all the cases that were filed against Allu Arjun against those people and make them cool their heels in jail.   If the Police and Administration do so in a few cases we can expect the crowds to behave orderly.  

Crowd control measures have to be put in place and strictly implemented without any fear or favour.   The police and other security personnel should be given absolute power to implement the same without any interference and without any fear of backlash.    If a bridge, boat or cable car has a maximum capacity don’t let a single person more than that step on to it, disembark those who do not follow safety precautions endangering their as well as other’s lives.    In stadiums, auditoriums and religious places control crowds in such a manner that they enter the area in batches in an organised and orderly manner, stopping others far off from the venue.   After that, if anyone is found violating any safety and other set norms simply arrest them and put them behind bars and slap criminal cases.  Let no Police, administrator or celebrity be punished for the faults of the mob on being made the `fall guys’

Though for us Indians,  may sound stringent all these measures are in place in every foreign destination.  When we go abroad, our own guys who are so unruly and indisciplined in India move like lambs when they go abroad.    Once I went to Genting and I stood with my family in a long Queue to play in small water scooters in a pond.   At the start of the Queue there was a sign board indicating maximum weight permitted is 75 kgs and requesting those above that weight not to standin the Queue.   We found an Indian family of 10 people and at least 6 adult members looked heavily built but still, they stood in the Queue.   Just before entering the pool everybody had to stand on the weighing machine and it gave an alarm if anyone crossed the weight limit.   Out of the 10 five failed the test and were politely asked to step aside.  They kept on arguing and blocking the way of others.   But the security guys pulled them aside and I saw them still arguing for a long time somehow to get into the pool but they were not allowed.   When they said we played it many times in India, they politely but sarcastically told them you could do it after returning to India.  Iseko Hindi main kehte hai `KhadeKhade Besti karvana’  Not only that one ride, but throughout the day we observed that even if it drizzled for 2 minutes they stopped, all the rides and cleaned and it took 30 minutes to resume the ride.   That is how the safety and security measures are implemented.    If it can be done in Genting, KL, Singapore and other places, why not in India? 

People have reduced themselves to be `Lathon ka Bhoot’

Though may sound harsh, in India people have reduced themselves to  `Lathon Ka Bhoot and baton se nahi maante’.

It is a pity even things essential for the personal safety of people like wearing helmets while driving two-wheelers, wearing seat belts while in a car, wearing safety jackets while riding on boats etc., are ignored and the Government has to pass laws making them made mandatory and it’s a pity that no one follows and they have to be challaned.   A day doesn’t pass without my seeing many ladies driving scooters without helmets and many youngsters hang helmets around their hands only to put it on their heads when they approach near to a traffic signal where they expect traffic police to be on the prowl.   The majority of the people who die in road accidents are due to serious head injuries because of not wearing helmets.    

So there is no option but to bring very stringent laws against crowding, triggering panic and stampede and it should be made a criminal offence and non-bailable and  they should be implemented with an iron fist.  

The day we bring such stringent  laws and enforce them religiously, then only we can expect the number of such unfortunate incidents to come down and the souls of the innocent people specially women and children died in such incidents will rest in peace.

 

S. Prabhakar

22.2.2025