How a Calcutta HC Judge defined the high ground of Indian Cricket stadiums

Kolkata: While watching the IPL match in Eden Gardens on TV, a flashback occurred in a jiffy. January 1967, when riots more venomous than the partition erupted in these very premises.

India was playing West Indies and the enthusiasm was naturally top-class, given the limitations of entertainment in that age. But the CAB ( Cricket Association of Bengal), back in the day, was a rather corrupt body and accommodated 80,000 spectators where only 60,000 could fit. Being packed like sardines was not an exaggerated metaphor but indeed a fine truth, under concentration camp-like conditions.

In all this, the police tried to control the proceedings with the baton, the 'lathi' charge being the norm and not the exception of the day. A voluntary peacemaker from the audience, Sitesh Ray, tried to negotiate with the cops but he was brutally beaten in full public view. The passionate Bengali blood revolted in no time and a full-fledged skirmish was unavoidable. Eden Gardens burned like a Ram Leela procession ground and as per documented legend, a few West Indian cricketers ran for dear life to The Great Eastern Hotel, not trusting the official transport.

What must be noted is that while this exceptional incident happened in Calcutta, this was the pattern in sports stadiums across the nation. Chaos was the stock in trade as organizers had the mindset of the East India Company, or should I say the Leopold management of Belgian Congo. There was no regard for human dignity or safety and this was also willingly accepted by the fans as well, in those less woke times. It needed a fall guy to bell the cat and Eden Gardens was the unfortunate candidate.

Now cut to the enquiry commission on this matter, appointed shortly after the disaster to define solutions. It was led by Justice KC Sen, a seasoned veteran of the Calcutta High Court, with a mandate to define long-term best practices. The investigation was rigorous and the recommendations were replete with scalable wisdom, as recorded by the late Kishore Bhimani in his book on Cricketing Controversies.

The Sen Commission laid the basic doctrine for future match governance with a firm diktat to accommodate only as much as the stadia could genuinely hold, strict censure for incompetencies or transgressions. Further, the police were also advised to act with human restraint and thus concoct a framework that could avoid any replay. What was mandated strictly for CAB later became a norm for BCCI as well, as Calcutta was a thought leader in sporting encounters at that time.

Most importantly, for millennials and beyond, it is necessary to note that human life was not worth much in those days. The official life expectancy for Indians in 1967 was 45 while nowadays it is closer to 70 - the function is not just of drastically improved nutrition, cure and immunology but also of a serious mindset change. Famines, floods, railways accidents and the like led to routine demographic attrition and we were resigned to premature mortality. Equally, in a less conscious ecosystem, the use of brute force was SOP and the police turning rogue was fairly common.

The other disturbing culture was that of unprofessional organizers blessed with shortsighted skulduggery and not long-term acumen. This was common in music concerts, temple trails, unreserved railway compartments and so much more, as we were still a nation barely two decades out of fiefdom. The sport was a rarely positive unifier and equaliser and the frenzy naturally, often beyond reasonable supervision. All of the above and indeed petty greed led to this Eden Gardens fiasco and many such peers in that era.

In so many ways, the contribution of the Justice K C Sen Commission is underrated, especially in terms of its long-term influence on how the business of sport can marry sustainable spectator interest. A public-private collaboration which is essential for any mass spectacle, which is a norm in population-intensive nations. It set the standards of conduct not just for Calcutta but also much of India as well, as a necessary sense of order was bestowed on a cauldron of chaos. The odd aberration still occurred over the decades but the process was clearly sorted.

In 1967, the test match did resume with great alacrity and the West Indies won the same with much aplomb. But the real winner, albeit in a roundabout way, was the Indian Cricket fan, in terms of necessary respect. For this, we must heartily remember the integrity of Justice KC Sen and his commission, as we flock to the stadiums for the IPL.