Haryana bus accident: FIR says ‘drunk’ driver ignored children’s pleas to slow down; 10 points

The Haryana police have arrested three people in connection with the deaths of six children in a road accident in Mahendragarh. Those arrested included the principal of the school and the driver of a private bus that was ferrying the victims.

According to the police, the incident took place near Unhani village in Kanina around 8.30 am, on Thursday. The bus was carrying 40 children. The deceased has been identified as Satyam, Yuvraj, Vansh, Ricky, Anshu and Yakush.

Here are 10 points in Haryana bus tragedy:

According to the police, the driver, Dharmender, had been driving rashly before the accident. He lost control of the vehicle, which rammed a tree and overturned. 20 children were injured.

The police said a medical examination confirmed that the driver had been under the influence of alcohol. He was arrested from the site of the accident. The police have arrested principal Deepti and a school official named Hoshiar Singh.

Some parents of school children at Kheri village had snatched the key from the bus driver on Thursday morning and informed the principal. The principal allegedly told them that he would be changed from Friday. “However, the principal told the parents to give back the key to the bus driver as the children are getting late. She assured the parents that a new bus driver will come from tomorrow. We had complained about the driver to school authorities several times but they failed to change him,” Sanjay Kumar, a farmer from Jhaadhli village, told HT.

Class 9 student Aditya, from Dhanaunda, said the driver was speeding. He jumped off the bus as it collided with the tree. “The bus driver lost control over the vehicle and it rammed into a tree. The students sitting in the front and last rows of the bus received injuries after the glass of the windows broke. The bus driver jumped off the bus when it collided with the tree,” he said.

Per the FIR by a Class 12 student, the drunk driver ignored students’ requests to slow down, reported PTI. He allegedly threatened them. There was no helper on board the bus. Two of the deceased belong to the same family.

Haryana’s education minister Seema Trikha said the government has asked the school to explain why the students were called to the premises despite Thursday being a holiday due to Eid. The district education officer has sent a proposal to the state government for cancelling its recognition, reported PTI.

Transport minister Aseem Goel said the Haryana authorities had fined the bus recently for not having some documents. The Mahendragarh administration has suspended an assistant secretary in the office of district-transport-cum-secretary. They have asked the Additional Transport Commissioner (Road Safety) to conduct a probe into the accident and fix responsibility.

A case under IPC Sections 109 (whoever abets any offence), 279 (rash driving), 304 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 336 (whoever does any act so rashly or negligently as to endanger human life or the personal safety others), 337 (causing hurt by endangering life), 120-B (Whoever is a party to a criminal conspiracy) and under relevant provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act has been registered in connection with the incident.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the accident was extremely painful. President Droupadi Murmu said the death of schoolchildren was heart-rending. Union home minister Amit Shah also condoled the deaths of children,

BJP chief J P Nadda, Haryana governor Bandaru Dattatreya, chief minister Nayab Singh Saini, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Randeep Singh Surjewala, AAP leader Sushil Gupta, INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala and JJP leader Dushyant Chautala expressed grief over the accident.