Indian preacher not hiding after Hathras stampede, his lawyer says
Sign up now: Get insights on Asia's fast-moving developments
People stand near a poster of preacher Bhole Baba who led a prayer meeting on July 2 that ended with the deaths of 121 people during a stampede.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
MAINPURI, India – The self-styled Indian preacher whose latest sermon ended in a deadly stampede is not hiding from police, his lawyer said on July 4, without disclosing the guru’s whereabouts.
Bhole Baba’s prayer meeting on July 2 near the northern city of Hathras saw the deaths of 121 people
The former police officer-turned-spiritual leader has not been seen in public since, but local media reports suggested he retreated to his nearby monastery, the doors of which have been chained shut by supporters inside, to bar public access.
Bhole Baba’s lawyer, Mr A.P. Singh, said his client was not to blame for the July 2 disaster and was not on the run.
“There is no reason for him to hide. He has never hidden in his life,” Mr Singh said. “He believes in the law. He is following police directions.”
He said “anti-social elements” in the crowd were responsible for the stampede, and that Bhole Baba would participate in a police investigation into the disaster.
“An investigation is going on. We will participate,” he said.
Mr Singh declined to confirm Bhole Baba’s exact location, beyond saying he remained in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, home to his monastery in the city of Mainpuri and the nearby site of the stampede.
A police charge sheet issued after the stampede named several organisers of the prayer meeting sought for arrest, but Bhole Baba’s name was not among them.
Around 20 police officers were on guard outside the monastery on July 4 but had not entered the sprawling premises, which are also ringed by a 5m high wall.
Police officers stand guard outside the ashram of Hindu preacher Bhole Baba in India’s Uttar Pradesh state.
PHOTO: AFP
India is home to innumerable religious gurus or “godmen”, whose devotees beseech them for miracles and donate money and possessions as a token of loyalty.
Bhole Baba, whose current whereabouts are unknown, was barely known to the wider Indian public before the July 2 disaster.
But in his native state of Uttar Pradesh, he has cultivated a large audience of worshippers, the vast majority of whom were women from poor and marginalised backgrounds.
The authorities had given permission for only 80,000 people to attend the sermon, less than a third of the number that eventually turned up.
‘He cured my disease’
Officials initially blamed a dust storm for sparking panic, while police later said the stampede began when “followers started to collect earth” from the ground where the preacher had passed.
One of Bhole Baba’s devoted followers, standing outside the locked monastery’s gates to show his support, said blame for the stampede lay squarely at the feet of the preacher’s audience.
“They were told to sit quietly and leave in an orderly fashion. What was the need to create a stampede?” said Mr Rishipal Chaudhary, 40.
“These deaths are the fault of those who died and their family members.”
Mr Chaudhary said he was looking forward to Bhole Baba emerging in public again and expected that an even larger crowd than the July 2 sermon would arrive to show their support.
“He cured my disease when no doctor or medicine could,” he said. “He will open these gates whenever he feels like. If you think he can’t see or hear what everyone is doing, you are wrong.”
Religious gatherings in India have a grim track record of deadly incidents caused by poor crowd management and safety lapses.
In 2008, 224 pilgrims were killed and more than 400 were injured in a stampede at a hilltop temple in the northern city of Jodhpur. AFP
