The Supreme Court on Friday wondered how a Single-Judge bench of the Madras High Court in Chennai had ordered a probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the September 27 stampede at actor Vijay’s rally in Karur when the Madurai Division Bench of the High Court had already taken cognizance of the matter and refused prayer for a CBI probe. At least 41 people had died and several others were injured in the incident. Hearing petitions, including one by Vijay’s party Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), a bench of Justices J K Maheswari and N V Anjaria also questioned the ruling M K Stalin government over how post mortem of 41 dead bodies was conducted in just 4-5 hours during the night. Justice Maheswari pointed out that the plea before the Single Judge was to direct the state to formulate Standard Operating Procedure (SoP) for allowing permission for political rallies and said: “When cognizance was already taken, what was the need for the Single judge (to order SIT probe)?” The court pointed out that the two orders were passed on the same day and added that “there has to be some propriety in the system.” "We are unable to understand how this order was passed?.In my experience of over 15 years as a judge, a single bench holds back if the division bench has taken cognizance,” the judge added.
