Student's death: 2 months on, auto driver booked in Patiala

Tribune News Service

Patiala, June 10

After the district administration failed to nail the culprit responsible for the death of a Class VI student in a road accident that took place on April 10, the Patiala police have now booked the auto-rickshaw driver, who was ferrying the boy to school. Meanwhile, the parents of the deceased alleged that “the Urban Estate police did not investigate the matter thoroughly”.

Matter not investigated properly

There was a delay in taking my son to the hospital and while the tyres of the auto had crushed his chest, the driver kept telling us and doctors that it was a minor injury. The Urban Estate police did not investigate the matter properly. We demand a thorough probe by a senior officer. Mandeep Sharma, Daksh’s father

The Deputy Commissioner had asked the Patiala police to conduct a probe and register a case against the guilty.

Daksh Sharma, 11, died after falling from an auto-rickshaw while commuting to his school on April 10.

The police have booked auto driver Amandeep Singh of Guru Nanak Nagar Bahadargarh under Sections 279 and 304-A of the IPC. However, the parents of the victim said there were many lapses in the statements of the bus driver and the auto driver, but the investigating officer did not take them into account and have added only two sections in the FIR.

“There was a delay in taking my son to the hospital and while the tyres of the auto had crushed his chest, the driver kept telling us and the attending doctors that it was a minor injury,” Daksh’s father Mandeep Sharma said. “We demand a thorough probe by a senior officer so that no such death takes place in the future,” he added.

Earlier, Deputy Commissioner Sakshi Sawhney had formed a probe committee — comprising the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, the regional transport officer, SP (Headquarters), district child protection officer and district education officer. Nearly a month after the DC formed the committee, it submitted its report, questioning the role of auto and bus drivers.

On May 21, the DC had written to the district police to investigate the death of the Class VI student in the road mishap. She had directed the police led by the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) to look into the aspect of negligence in driving and overloading on the part of the auto driver. “The role of the bus driver, who usually ferried the boy to school, is also under scrutiny. One of the tyres of the bus got punctured on the day the incident occurred,” the DC had said.

The administration had also directed schools in the city to make provisions for their own buses to ferry children.