Toddler crushed to death by school van

Archit Watts
Tribune News Service
Malout, February 20

A one-and-a-half-year-old boy was allegedly crushed to death by a private school van at Ajit Nagar here on Wednesday. The van dragged the boy a few metres away. The driver managed to run away from the spot when some people present on the spot raised a hue and cry.

The driver, identified as Gurpreet Singh, principal and management of Greenland Convent School on Burj Sidhwan Road were booked in this regard. A case under Sections 379-A and 204 of the IPC has been registered against them.

The deceased has been identified as Rikshit. His father Surjit Kumar, who owns a mobile phone repair shop on Indira Road here, informed mediapersons that his elder son had boarded the same van that crushed the younger one to death.

The deceased’s mother said she was standing in the street and was waiting for the school van along with his both sons. “The bus was being rashly driven and crushed my younger son under the front wheel. The driver hardly applied brakes in the past too,” said the deceased’s mother.

Meanwhile, the police have arrested the van driver and impounded the van. 

The police said they would also investigate whether the school van was complying with the norms set by the state government.