'Something Wrong': Supreme Court On Madras HC's Handling Of Karur Stampede Case

A bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi made the remarks after examining a report submitted by the Registrar General of the Madras High Court.

The Supreme Court on Friday sharpened its criticism of the Madras High Court’s handling of proceedings linked to the Karur stampede, noting that “something is wrong” with the way the case was addressed by the High Court's Chennai Bench. 

A bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi made the remarks after examining a report submitted by the Registrar General of the Madras High Court. The apex court had sought this report in October while questioning why the High Court’s principal bench heard the matter in Chennai despite Karur falling under the territorial jurisdiction of the Madurai Bench.

The Supreme Court directed that the Registrar General’s report be shared with all parties and sought their responses. While reviewing the document, Justice Maheshwari noted, “Something wrong is going on in the High Court. This is not the right thing that is happening.”

"Something wrong going in High Court. This is not a right thing that is happening in HC...Registrar General has sent a report," Live Law quoted Justice Maheshwari as saying.

TVK Files Rejoinder Opposing Tamil Nadu Government's Plea

Actor-turned-politician Vijay’s Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) has filed its preliminary rejoinder to the Tamil Nadu government’s plea seeking to overturn the Supreme Court’s earlier order transferring the Karur stampede investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

In its reply, TVK contends that the State government’s counter-affidavit omits key facts and fails to present any credible grounds for removing the CBI or the Supreme Court-appointed supervisory committee from the probe. The party further alleges that several assertions made by the State are “false and misleading,” arguing that accepting such claims would impede both the investigation and its oversight.

“The respondents are wrongly alleging that the petitioner misled this Hon’ble Court or withheld material facts. These claims are baseless and unsupported by the records before the Court,” TVK stated in its filing.

Maintaining that independent scrutiny is crucial, TVK has urged the Supreme Court to continue allowing the Justice (Retd.) Ajay Rastogi-led committee to supervise the CBI probe.

The rejoinder was filed on behalf of TVK by advocates Dixita Gohil, Pranjal Agarwal, Rupali Samuel and Yash S Vijay.

Karur Stampede Tragedy

The tragedy, which occurred on September 27 during a political outreach programme of actor-turned-politician Vijay’s Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK), claimed 41 lives.