Why was the crowd in Allahabad Lathi Charged leading to Stampede?

In an unfortunate turn of events 20 (possibly more) people have died in a stampede in Allahabad.  These pilgrims were there for the Maha Kumbh.

Now, I have been looking at many news outlets and except for one, no one is reporting why the railing collapsed?  It is being made out as if the crowd made it happen.  Well, FirstPost says it clearly that a “cane-charge” happened on the crowd in the railway station before the railing gave way.

District officials said that a cane charge-prompted stampede preceded the incident at 7.15 p.m. on platform number 6 of the railway station in the city which hosted over three crore devotees at the Kumbh Mela during the day.

Zee News also reports that the people were “Lathi Charged”, although the Divisional Railway official denies – obviously so.

Several eyewitnesses said there was a lathicharge by the police that compounded the panic but Divisional Railway Manager Harinder Rao claimed passengers were not baton charged and that police only attempted to regulate the movement of the crowd at the platforms by asking passengers to stand in line.

So an all important question – Which IDIOT gave the orders or TOOK THE DECISION to cane charge a crowd which was close t0 200,000 on a railway station??  If there is a sure way to cause panic – then cane-charge is probably the Best way to do that?

Let us first understand why the cane charge ever happened on unsuspecting pilgrims?  There is really no justification.

Second, why is media blanking it out, if that is what led to the panic situation? Don’t see it in Hindustan Times or Times of India’s internet editions.

This needs serious investigation on why this was done.  It is as devastating as someone blowing a bomb in the crowd and killing people.  So it could have several ramifications.

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