At least seven devotees were trampled to death in a stampede on the famous Barabar Hills in Bihar, allegedly triggered by a fight between flower sellers and local youths during the early hours of Monday. Sixteen others were injured in the stampede.

The incident occurred at 1am while a swarm of devotees was moving towards the 7th century AD Siddheshwar Nath Temple atop the 1,050-foot-high hill in Jehanabad district, around 85km south of Patna.

The crowd had swelled because it was Monday (a day devoted to Lord Shiva) of the Hindu lunar month of Shravan (a month devoted to Lord Shiva). They were moving around slowly on the narrow, stone-cut stairs leading to the top. “We were inching ahead with the crowd when an argument broke out between the flower shop owners and devotees. The shopkeepers started hitting them with sticks, which led to a stampede. Several people, who fell down, were crushed to death and many were injured,” eyewitness Manoj Kumar told reporters.

Eyewitnesses said adequate administrative arrangements and the presence of the police were lacking at the place of occurrence. “The administration was irresponsible and the police were not present at the place where the incident occurred. Had they been present the flower sellers would not have dared to use sticks on the devotees. When the administration and the police reached the spot, everything returned to normal within 30 minutes,” Manoj added.

A joint statement by Jehanabad DM Alankrita Pandey and SP Arvind Pratap Singh said that they received information that “a stampede-like situation had happened due
to a dispute between a few young devotees and local shopkeepers.”