A 12-year- old girl died while her 14-year-old brother is struggling for life after a dumper crushed them in South-East Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh on Friday morning, said police, adding that the driver has been arrested.
Eyewitnesses told police that the accident took place when the dumper, trying to overtake a bus, rammed into the divider where the minor children were standing. The impact of the accident was such that the girl died on the spot while her brother Nishat alias Raju who got entangled in the fence is undergoing treatment at the Apollo hospital.
The two siblings were on their way to school when the incident took place.
Asif Ansari, an eyewitness to the accident and who owns a small shop on the main road told The Pioneer, “Ishrat and Nishat were heading to school. Walking from their home in Shram Vihar slum cluster, the two siblings had reached the main road. While they managed to cross one side of the road and reached the divider, a speeding dumper tried to overtake a bus. The driver of the dumper did not stop and rammed into the two kids. The accident was so brutal that Ishrat was badly crushed under the rear wheels of the dumper. Her elder brother, while trying to save his sister, got stuck in the fence.
Other locals gathered and thrashed the driver of the dumper. A police officer said, “A dumper HR 38N 9458 hit two children near Shaheen Bagh road no 12A in Sarita Vihar area at around 6:45am. The deceased has been identified as Ishrat (12) and her brother, Nishat sustained injuries. He is undergoing treatment at the Apollo hospital. Both the victims are residents of Shram Vihar Jhuggi.”
Chinmoy Biswal, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Southeast said, “We have registered a case at the Jamia Nagar police station under relevant sections of rash driving and causing death due to negligence and have arrested the driver of the dumper, Pushpender. He was carrying building material in his dumper and was heading towards Noida.” A pall of gloom ell on the house of the victims. located barely 200 meters away from the accident spot, a thatch-roofed house in the Shram Vihar jhuggi bears a sign of despair.
Born to a father who works as a tailor and a mother who stays mostly at home, the house of the two siblings is swelling with relatives and neighbours. The tragedy has left their mother, Tabassum (35) shell shocked. It is the second death in the family within a week.
While Ishaq, the victim’s father is out of town and has gone to attend the funeral, Tabassum was lying unconscious since the time she heard the news of her daughter’s death. While a few relatives surround Tabassum, Tabassum’s brother, waiting on Nishat at the Apollo hospital said that the accident was very serious and doctors are contemplating to remove Nishat’s leg, which got injured in the accident.