India, July 3 -- The Karnataka high court on Thursday sought an explanation from the state government over the suspension of five police officers in connection with the June 4 stampede outside Bengaluru's M Chinnaswamy Stadium, which left 11 people dead, questioning whether a milder action-such as transferring them to other posts-might have been more appropriate.

A bench of Justices SG Pandit and TM Nadaf said the state will have to "justify whether it was proper to keep the officers under suspension, or, whether shifting them to another post would have been sufficient?"

The court was hearing an appeal filed by the Karnataka government challenging the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) July 1 order quashing Indian police service (IPS...