No one helped as victim bled to death on tracks
HEARTLESS Snatching victim’s son called the police, hospital but assistance reached late
When his mother fell off a moving train while fighting off a snatcher, 19-year-old Gaurav Bansal jumped behind her without a second thought. Entering the Old Delhi railway station, the train was slow and Gaurav hoped the fall would only result in minor injuries to his mother.
But as he got back on his feet and looked towards his 43-yearold mother, Sudhir Bansal, his heart sank.
His mother had landed under the train instead of the adjacent tracks. Gaurav realised what had happened only a few seconds later when the last compartment of the train passed. His mother had lost her right hand and leg and had received severe injuries to her head.
A desperate Gaurav immediately checked to see if his mother was alive. Finding her breathing still, he looked around frantically in the hope of spotting someone who could help him.
But there was no one in immediate sight.
Not sure about what to do, Gaurav decided to carry his mother in his arms. But he immediately realised that it was practically impossible because of the long and tough distance he would have to walk along the railway tracks. The nature of injuries to his mother did not make the idea feasible either.
Gaurav then decided to call the authorities for help. “I called the police, the ambulance and other numbers I could remember. But I received no response for over an hour,” alleged Gaurav, who would be attending his first day of graduation at a DU college if not for the tragedy.
Seeing a delay in help, Gaurav again looked around for people. He spotted a few, most of them visiting the railway tracks to attend the call of nature.
“I begged them with folded hands. I told them it was my mother on the tracks. But not one person helped us,” said an angry Gaurav.
Every few seconds, Gaurav would check if his mother was still alive before again beginning to beg the passersby. He did not realise when she stopped breathing, but by the time a police team reached the spot, she was already dead.
Gaurav said he had read in the newspapers about Delhi’s lack of sensitivity towards people in need, but never thought he would be a victim on the day he landed in the city to pursue his education.
“You have been writing about people’s apathy, but did it change anything? Did it bring people to save my mother? You writing about it now will neither stop snatching, nor bring humanity in the people,” Gaurav told a small media gathering at Sabzi Mandi mortuary as the post-mortem was being conducted on his mother.
“My son is an educated boy. He knew how to seek help, but he was forced to stand helpless in front of his dying mother,” said Gaurav’s father, Satyavan, just before breaking down.
“Some people inside the train, who were standing behind Gaurav, had witnessed what had happened, but they too did not alert anyone,” he added.
As the family took back Sudhir’s body to their hometown in Haryana’s Bhiwani, relatives said Delhiites had left them heartbroken. “Gaurav says he doesn’t want to study in a city that couldn’t save his mother. We will try to guide him to make the right choice once he recovers,” said Gaurav’s cousin, Sanjay.