A sudden downpour triggered panic among attendees of the Durga Puja religious festival in Kolkata, leaving 19 people dead and more than two dozen injured.

Officials are investigating possible crowd-management failures after festivalgoers were reportedly funneled into narrow alleyways. 

Why do India's religious festivals keep producing deadly crowd crushes? 

Mukulika Banerjee, Professor of Social Anthropology at the London School of Economics, shares her insights with DW.