The Hindu : School van crushes child to death

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Sep 16, 2003

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School van crushes child to death

By K. Manikandan

B. Karan

CHENNAI SEPT. 15. A two-and-a half year old boy was crushed to death by a van at Puthagaram, near Puzhal, this morning, even as his father and elder brother, whom he had come to see off, watched helplessly. B. Karan was trapped between the cement base of a flagpost and the van, which was in the reverse gear, near the junction of the roads leading to Puthagaram and Madhanaankuppam.

The Puzhal police arrested the driver, Ayyanar, under Section 304 (a) of IPC (accidental death due to negligence).

N. Bhoominathan, father of the boy, said that at about 8 a.m., he was waiting for the school van to pick up his elder son, B. Gunalan, a UKG student in the Velammal Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Surappettai. "The van arrived at the junction and even before Gunalan got in, it to started back up and crushed Karan, who was standing beside the base of the flagpost", he said.

Karan, who sustained head injuries, was rushed to a private hospital on the 100-feet Road and later referred to the KMC Hospital, where he was declared "brought dead".

Bhoominathan accused Ayyanaar of driving rashly and negligently and the cleaner, Prabhu, of not providing the right direction. According to C.L. Udayakumar, councillor of the Puthagaram village panchayat and relative of the deceased boy, said the accident "seemed to be waiting to happen". "Van drivers and students from the engineering college drive rashly", he said. The incident angered the local residents, who stopped students riding two-wheelers and asked them to drive slowly. "Otherwise, you will not be permitted to travel on this road", they warned.

The incident also brings back memories of the death of a seven-year old boy, C. Harshan who was knocked down by a van which dropped him near his house at Velachery in December last.

More recently, in June, a standard IX student was run over by a van which he was travelling in, after the door swung open at Vegetarian Nagar near Puzhal. Investigation revealed that the door was faulty and that it used to open frequently even as the vehicle was in motion.

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