17-year-old jumps off Signature Bridge; rescued

The girl, who survived the jump by holding on to a concrete pillar amid the river’s strong currents, was rescued in a 45minute-long operation by a team of police officers and local divers

The Delhi Police on Tuesday evening rescued a 17-year-old girl, who jumped into the Yamuna River from Signature Bridge in north Delhi, after a quarrel with her father.

Fishermen on the Yamuna River in Wazirabad with Signature Bridge in the background, in Delhi. (HT Archive)

The girl, who survived the jump by holding on to a concrete pillar amid the river’s strong currents, was rescued in a 45minute-long operation by a team of police officers and local divers, who kept her engaged in conversation while swimmers and speed boats reached her.

“We have counselled the girl as well as her parents to ensure a similar situation does not arise again,” said Sagar Singh Kalsi, deputy commissioner of police (north).

The girl is a student of class 11 and resides with her parents in Wazirabad. On Monday, her father checked her phone and discovered that she was in a romantic relationship, which led to a quarrel between them and was the reason behind her taking the extreme step, police officers said.

At 9.15pm on Tuesday, the girl arrived at Signature Bridge. “Assistant sub-inspector Parminder Singh, who was on patrolling duty, spotted her. When he came to talk to her, she ignored him. So, Singh kept watching her and saw when she suddenly jumped off the bridge,” said Kalsi.

Tribhuvan Singh Negi, station house officer (SHO) of Timarpur police station, who reached the spot quickly, said, “We saw that the girl had fallen 50feet below the bridge into the water but managed to latch on to a concrete pillar.”

The police sought help from local divers and summoned speed boats to the spot. “In the meantime, we threw ropes at her to rescue her, but the ropes kept getting swept away by the current,” said Negi.

The water was cold and the girl seemed to be losing hope, said the SHO, but the police officers kept talking to her and urged her not to give up. “For more than 30 minutes, we kept talking to her from atop the bridge using a loudhailer in a bid to encourage her to live. We promised her that we would help sort out the dispute with her parents,” Negi said.

Meanwhile, head constables Ravinder and Manoj dived into the river and began swimming towards her. “Along the way, they came across two speed boats racing towards the girl. The two head constables jumped into one of the boats and accompanied the divers to rescue the girl,” the SHO said.

The boat happened to get flooded during the final stages of the rescue, but the policemen and divers were able to rescue the girl.