NEW DELHI: “I got trampled under the people. I was crushed under the men”, said 5-year-old Labi, visibly injured and anxious as he narrated the horrors of the stampede that occurred on Tuesday during a satsang of Bhole Baba, a self-styled godman, in a small village of Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras.
Unbeknownst to the attendees, the serene gathering would soon turn into a scene of chaos and terror.
Prema Devi, a 70-year-old woman who is the grandmother of Labi, lives in a nearby village. She recalled how the situation deteriorated rapidly after the event ended. “Everyone started to come out after the event ended. The road was uneven outside as the road was built on a height with a drain below. One after the other, people started falling into it. Some people got crushed.”
Devi’s survival marks her as one of the few who lived through India’s deadliest accident in over a decade.
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On Tuesday, at least 122 people, most of them women, were crushed to death during the religious ceremony. The stampede erupted as the crowd surged to exit the venue. Prema, along with her five-year-old grandson, Labi, attended the gathering to hear sermons from the popular “godman.”
As the commotion started, the old lady recounted, “Baba came and then left…we don’t know much about Baba, it was our first time attending the satsang and this terrible accident happened. As soon as Baba left, everyone stood up, and there was pushing and shoving, causing a stampede where people got trampled.”
She vividly described the horrifying moments when people started to fall. “During the constant pushing and shoving, people fell into the ditch. My lalla (Labi), whom I was holding also fell with me.”
“We were dragged and thrown into the field; I had no idea what happened to me,” added Devi.
Prema Devi was left unconscious, only to awaken buried under scores of bodies, gasping for breath. “We were dragged and thrown into the field; I had no idea what happened. My daughter-in-law and her youngest child got separated from us. Today, she reached home before us. They put me in an ambulance with Labi and took me to Sikandrarao,” she said.
Devi suffered multiple internal injuries and a fractured arm. Survivors like Prema Devi bear the physical and emotional scars of an event that should have been a peaceful spiritual experience.
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Uttar Pradesh Governor has constituted a three-member Judicial Inquiry Commission under the Chairmanship of Justice (Retd.) Brijesh Kumar Srivastava of the Allahabad High Court to ensure comprehensiveness of the subject matter and transparency in the inquiry.
Previously, the state government announced compensation of ₹2 lakh to the families of those who perished in the tragedy.