‘I saw it all but I couldn’t save my little daughter’

TRAGIC Munna Lal says the bus first hit his motorcycle from behind and then crushed the girl’s head and spinal cord with its rear wheels

“It all happened before my eyes and I could not save her,” cried Munna Lal, father of Pooja Kumari, who was reportedly mowed down by a private bus in north Delhi’s Burari area on Tuesday morning.

Speaking to Hindustan Times, Lal recalled the incident. “I was numb. The bus ran over her and before I could react she was dead,” he said.

For Lal, it was a routine to drop his daughters off to school every morning before he headed out to work. Like any other morning, on Tuesday as well, he was taking them to school on his bike when the accident occurred.

He said he always exercised extra caution while riding the bike when his daughters were with him, but on Tuesday his luck was not with him. “One of my daughter’s is in Class 5 and the one who passed away was in Class 8. I dropped them to school every day and that had been the routine for years now,” he said.

“On Tuesday, when I reached Burari chowk, a bus hit my bike from behind. I slowed down but lost balance over the vehicle. While I and my younger daughter fell on the left side, she fell to the right. I tried to hold her, but could not. Just then, the bus driver drove over her crushing her head and spinal cord under the rear wheels of the vehicle,” Lal said.

“My younger daughter’s hand was also fractured as it was crushed under the wheels but I escaped unhurt. Before I could get up and react, my daughter was dead. I picked her up and could not understand where I should take her.”

Locals chased the driver. “I started shouting and the locals ran after the bus driver, but he managed to escape. He left the bus behind. The locals got very angry and even hurled stones at the bus. My daughter was taken to the hospital but the doctors could not revive her. She died,” Lal said. “Whatever punishment is given to the driver, will not bring my daughter back,” he said.

On Monday, a 5-year-old girl was crushed to death by a school van. The driver was reversing the vehicle that did not have rear view mirrors and crushed the girl standing behind. The incident was reported from east Delhi’s Shahdra area.