Overloaded auto overturns in Ludhiana, 10 students injured
Class 8 students were headed to a centre to take PSEB board exams; say their teachers hired the auto, principal claims otherwise
As many as 10 students were injured after an overloaded auto-rickshaw overturned in a bid to avoid collision with a scooter near Deep Nagar on Tuesday morning.
As the three-wheeler overturned, it landed on a parked Maruti Suzuki Baleno, damaging the four-wheeler, and also ended up hitting the scooter, injuring the man riding it.
The accident left all 10 students — nine girls and a boy, all aged between 12 and 13 — injured. They were identified as Mansi, Krishna, Shruti, Kashish, Aanchal, Anjali, Alisha, Yashika, Romnipal and Vishakha. Krishna suffered a fractured leg, while Aanchal fractured her right arm. The other children sustained minor injuries.
They were admitted to Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH), where some of them were discharged after first-aid treatment, while others are recuperating.
The auto driver Varinder Kumar, alias Sunny, 26, was arrested. Him and Roshan Lal, 62, who was riding the scooter, have been booked under Sections 279 (rash driving), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees) of the Indian Penal Code.
Police said the injured students were Class 8 students at SMD Convent School, Laxmi Nagar.
According to the students, on Tuesday morning, the school principal hailed various auto-rickshaws to ferry the Class 8 students to Government Senior Secondary School in Model Town, around 10km away, to appear in the Hindi and Punjabi PSEB board exams.
The three-wheeler that met with the accident was overloaded, ferrying 10 students, two of whom were seated in the front seat with the driver.
As the vehicle reached near the Deep Nagar turn, the scooterist moving ahead of the auto suddenly took a sharp turn, causing Varinder to lose control of the three-wheeler, which overturned.
Hearing cries of the children, passers-by rushed to pull them out. Police were informed, following which a PCR team, including ASI Manjit Singh and ASI Surjit Singh, rushed the children to DMCH in the PCR vehicle. The parents were informed with the help of the students’ identity cards.
The ASIs said as the ambulance would have taken time to reach the accident scene, they decided to take the crying children to the hospital in their vehicle, a Chevrolet Tavera.
ASI Ranbir Singh of Division Number 8 police, who is investigating the case, said they may initiate legal action against the school authorities as well.
On his part, school principal Kuldeep Singh said it was the parents who hailed the auto-rickshaws to take the students to the examination centre from the school. “The injured students are stable. A report has been send to the district education office,” he added. Later in the day, district education officer, secondary, Swaranjit Kaur met the students at the hospital.
Krishna, who was sitting in the front with the driver, said the driver was speeding, therefore he lost control of the vehicle in a bid to avoid collision with the scooter. “As I fell on the road, my leg was trapped under the auto. Other students also fell on me, pinning me on the road,” he said