3 girls heading to school hit by car, one dead, family stages protest

Police said the vehicle driver, Pushpender, fled the spot and left his vehicle behind. He was later arrested. Police also arrested the truck driver, Mukesh.

The police said they received a PCR call about the accident at 8.08 am. A team rushed to the spot and found that the three girls had been hit, and one was severely injured. Police said the three were rushed to nearby hospitals.

Manisha Kumari was taken to Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital, where she died. Her friends Kalpana and Sanjana are undergoing treatment at Balaji Hospital. All three are students of Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya, Peeragarhi, and residents of a jhuggi jhopri cluster in Udyog Nagar.

Sameer Sharma, DCP (Outer), said, “As per an initial enquiry, both the car and truck driver are at fault. Our staff reached on time and rushed the girls to hospitals. Kalpana and Sanjana are out of danger now.”

Manisha’s family later staged a protest in the area and blamed the government for lack of a foot-over-bridge in the area. The family also alleged police don’t deploy personnel to manage traffic in the area.

Manisha’s father Tunna Yadav, a labourer, said, “We sent her to school so she would work hard and live a better life. What was her fault? She was happy going back to school. Why couldn’t the government have built a foot-over-bridge? We have requested authorities in the past because such incidents happen regularly. My child died because of their negligence.”

Manisha’s mother Premkala said, “She was going with her friends; they take the same route every day. If police personnel were at the spot, they could have helped the girls or prevented the accident. But nobody thinks about us.”