A catastrophic crowd crush on Tuesday in India’s Hathras district led to the deaths of at least 121 people, mostly women, during a religious gathering for the Hindu guru Bhole Baba.
The event, a Satsang or prayer meeting, attracted 250,000 devotees of Bhole Baba, also known as Suraj Pal, with around 80,000 permitted into the main venue, a field set up for the prayer meeting.
The gathering took place in a makeshift tent pitched on muddy ground. Bhole Baba, a Dalit, has a significant following among “lower castes,” including many women and impoverished individuals.
Chaos erupted when Bhole Baba left the tent to get into his car post-meeting. A stampede ensued as devotees rushed towards him to touch his feet or the ground he had walked on. Police reports detail that many people were trampled and suffocated, with some falling into an adjacent mud field and being crushed.
The tragedy claimed 121 lives, confirmed by Sandip Kumar Singh Lodhi, Uttar Pradesh’s education minister. Senior police officer Shalabh Mathur reported over 80 injuries, with victims admitted to hospitals. Prashant Kumar, the state’s police chief, stated that 112 women were among the deceased, and UP’s chief secretary, Manoj Kumar Singh, reported seven children dead.
The stampede occurred in a paddy field beside a busy highway in Hathras, approximately 200km southeast of New Delhi. Uttar Pradesh, known for its religious and cultural heritage, recently hosted significant events, such as the Ram Temple consecration in Ayodhya.
Experts attribute the disaster to the event organizers and authorities’ poor planning and inadequate preparations. Dr. AP Pradeepkumar from the University of Kerala highlighted the lack of sufficient staffing for India’s National Disaster Response Force to manage such situations. Sanjay Srivastava, a disaster management expert, noted the insufficient number of exit routes in the tent and the excessive freedom granted to private religious organizations.
Authorities have filed a First Information Report against the event organizers and initiated a search for Bhole Baba, whose whereabouts remain unknown. UP’s Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath visited Hathras to console the victims’ families, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his condolences and support for the injured on social media.
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