5-year-old girl, playing outside home, crushed to death by e-rickshaw in Delhi

This incident puts focus on the e-rickshaws, which, according to data for this year (till Sept 15), have killed 24 people and injured 100 in 108 road accidents.

A five-year-old girl, who was playing outside her grandmother’s house in West Delhi’s Uttam Nagar, was allegedly killed after a recklessly driven e-rickshaw overturned and fell on her on Sunday afternoon, police said. The accused driver has been arrested.

In September, a 16-year-old schoolgirl died and three others, including two minor girls, were injured after an e-rickshaw overturned at Paharganj Chowk, allegedly due to the driver’s rash and negligent driving. (HT Archive)

A senior police officer identified the victim as Deepanshi Kumari, resident of a slum cluster in the area, and the accused as Murari Jha, a 39-year-old resident of Ranhola.

The officer said that their control room received a call at 4:30 pm regarding an accident in which a minor girl sustained injuries. When police reached the spot, they were informed that the girl had been taken to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital. At the hospital, the victim’s mother, Babita, 32, told police what happened.

“She said that her daughter Deepanshi had gone to her maternal grandmother’s house close to theirs and she was playing right outside — in a congested lane — when the incident happened,” the officer said.

Eyewitnesses told investigators that the girl was playing in the narrow street as two e-rickshaws were crossing the street head on. “They took a sharp cut and one of them hit the girl and then fell on her. The e-rickshaw was coming from Kali Basti, towards Uttam Nagar. Locals caught hold of the driver and alerted her mother. She rushed to the spot and took the child to the hospital where she [the 5-year-old] was declared dead on arrival,” the officer said.

Jha was arrested from the spot and a case has been registered for rash and negligent driving and causing death by negligence. The e-rickshaw has been seized, police said.

“My little girl is gone because of a driver who didn’t care to drive properly. These are such congested roads and rickshaws should not even be allowed to drive here as there is not even enough space to walk. These e-rickshaw drivers anyway do not follow any rules and regulations,” said the victim’s father, Vishal Kumar. The 33-year-old is a factory worker.

This incident puts focus on the menace of e-rickshaws, which, according to Delhi Traffic Police data for this year (till September 15), have killed 24 people and injured 100 in 108 road accidents. In 2024, there were 20 such fatal incidents.

Recent accidents involving e-rickshaws in Delhi.

In September, a 16-year-old schoolgirl died and three others, including two minor girls, were injured after an e-rickshaw overturned at Paharganj Chowk, allegedly due to the driver’s rash and negligent driving. A video of the incident went viral on social media.

The accused identified as Dilip Kumar, 46, a resident of Motia Khan, was caught on the spot by passersby soon after the accident.

In May, an eight-year-old girl, Divyanshi Kumari, was allegedly killed after she fell from an e-rickshaw in Harsh Vihar due to alleged rash driving by the 16-year-old driver. The accused was apprehended, police said.

Delhi Traffic Police data further shows that a total of 2,278 e-rickshaws have been impounded this year till September 15, while 4.32 lakh challans have been issued.

Last year, 3.52 lakh challans were issued to e-rickshaws.

An officer aware of the matter said that in most cases, an FIR is registered under Sections 281 (rash driving), 125(a) (negligent conduct with respect to machinery), and 106(1) (causing death by negligence) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The matter is also referred to the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) for further action.

“We take action against e-rickshaws wherever necessary and beat staff has also been informed to keep drivers sensitised about proper parking because we received several complaints of improper parking,” a traffic police officer said.

Boy, 5, crushed under e-rickshaw

In the second incident, a five-year-old boy, resident of south Delhi’s Sangam Vihar, was killed when his friend accidentally started an e-rickshaw parked on the side of lane Sunday afternoon. “A water-delivery e-rickshaw was parked in the lane. It was accidentally started by a child resulting in the victim being run over and getting trapped underneath,” the officer said, adding that a case has been registered in the matter.