Girl dies, 8 hurt as minibus hits car in Jammu

An 18-year-old girl died and eight others were injured when a speeding minibus, mostly carrying schoolchildren, rammed into a car and overturned in Kunjwani Chowk.

An 18-year-old girl, a student of Class 12, was killed and eight others were injured after a “rashly driven” minibus rammed into a car before it overturned at Kunjwani Chowk in the city on Saturday morning. The minibus was mostly ferrying schoolchildren. Its driver has been arrested.

According to an eyewitness, the minibus was being driven at a very high speed.

“A speeding minibus rammed into a car coming from the opposite direction,” said a police officer. The deceased has been identified as Surbhi Kumari (18), a resident of Jallo Chak in Gangyal. Among the injured were Saina (16) of Kunjwani, Goutam Sharma (25) of Chatha, Akash Mohan of Afgana Mohalla in Panjtirthi, Muskan Sharma of Ratnu Chak in Jammu, Sarita of Dhyansar in Bari Brahmana, Nisha, hailing from Jharkhand and currently residing in Bari Brahmana, Sumit Kumar of Doda and currently residing in Bari Brahmana, and Shivani (14) of Kunjwani.

Mohit Kumar, an eyewitness, said the minibus was being driven at a very high speed and negligently. The police have registered a case under Sections 281, 125 and 106 of the BNS at Gangyal police station. “We have arrested the minibus driver, Rajinder Kumar, 28, of Udhampur,” informed a police officer on duty at the police station.

The CCTV footage of the accident has also gone viral on social media sites clearly showing that the minibus was being driven recklessly. “It is high time for the police to rein in these minibus drivers. They have let lose a reign of terror on city roads,” said Anita Devi, a schoolteacher, who has to commute daily in private mini-buses.