A police baton charge on 50,000 Gowari protesters in Nagpur caused a stampede killing 114 people, mostly women and children, with no officials held responsible.
Key Facts
- Deaths
- 114 people
- Injured
- 500+ people
- Protesters present
- ~50,000 people
- Date
- 23 November 1994
- Inquiry commission
- Justice S S Dani Commission (one-man)
- Official resignation
- Tribal Development Minister Madhukar Pichad
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Approximately 50,000 members of the Gowari community, an ethnic group predominantly from the Nagpur region of central India, had gathered in protest. Nagpur Police attempted to disperse the large crowd using a baton charge, triggering widespread panic among the protesters.
On 23 November 1994, the panicked crowd stampeded as protesters scrambled to flee the police line. The majority of the 114 people killed were women and children, crushed underfoot or impaled on barbed wire fences they attempted to climb in their attempt to escape.
The Maharashtra state government established the one-man Justice S S Dani Commission to investigate the tragedy. The commission cleared all officials, including Chief Minister Sharad Pawar, and justified the police baton charge. Tribal Development Minister Madhukar Pichad resigned, citing moral responsibility as the only form of accountability acknowledged.