Son in arms, woman jumps into canal

Pavneet Singh Chadha

Tribune News Service

Mohali, April 16

A Mohali woman, in her late thirties, was rescued after she jumped into a canal in Ropar with her six-year-old son on Sunday afternoon.

Police sources said the boy, Harsimrat Singh Tiwana, a Class I student at Doon International School, was feared dead after he was swept away by the current.

An intensive search operation has been initiated to trace the boy.

According to the police, the incident occurred at 3 pm on Sunday when Kirandeep Kaur, a Sector 69 resident, went to her parents’ house in Pathreri Jattan village, Ropar, along with her son on a scooter.

After parking the vehicle, she went near the canal and jumped into it with her son in her arms. The police said some youths of a nearby village managed to rescue the woman, but the boy was swept away and possibly drowned.

SHO Sukhbir Singh of the Bhagwant Pur police station, Ropar, said the woman in her statement to the police said that she took the step because of a marital discord.

“A case has been registered against her under Sections 302 (murder) and 309 (attempt to suicide) of the IPC,” said the SHO.

The police said a search operation had been initiated and divers in the area had been alerted.

“The canal flows toward Sirhind, before splitting into two sides to Rajpura and Khanauri,” a police official said.

The accused was produced in court after a medical examination and sent to judicial custody.

Dreams shattered

More than 24 hours after the incident, at their house in Sector 69, the boy’s grandfather, BS Tiwana, was hoping at the faint possibility that the boy may have been saved by some miracle.

“I dread to imagine his last moments before the jump. He must have wailed, begging his mother that he did not want to die,” he said.

The family said their daughter-in-law told them that she was going to the Phase IX market to purchase a tooth brush and some household supplies. “Little did we know that we would be seeing our grandson for the last time,” said a kin. BS Tiwana said Simrat (as he was fondly called) was an intelligent boy who wanted to become a scientist or a pilot. Kirandeep Kaur had married Varinder Singh, a PSEB employee, in 2009. The family said the boy’s father had gone with the police to the canal to trace him.