Delhi: Car hits students crossing road in Peeragarhi; 18-yr-old dead, 2 hurt

Police said the girls, who live in the nearby JJ Colony in Udyog Nagar, were on their way to their school Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya, Peeragarhi, when the accident took place

A Class 12 student died and two others suffered injuries on Wednesday morning after a car hit them when they were crossing the road near Peeragarhi Metro station in west Delhi, police said, adding that the car driver has been arrested.

Relatives mourn Manisha’s death at her residence, on Wednesday. (Sanchit Khanna/HT)

Police said the girls were on their way to their school Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya, Peeragarhi, when the accident took place. They said the girls live in the nearby JJ Colony in Udyog Nagar.

A police officer involved in the investigation explained that Manisha Yadav, Sanjana Kumari and Kalpana Kumari, all aged 18, were crossing the road near Metro Pillar number 290, near Peeragarhi Metro station, when a speeding car hit Manisha. “Since the two other girls were walking beside her, they fell on the road, but Manisha was hurled into the air, and hit a truck that was moving beside the Tata Tiago car. The truck driver had applied brakes and did not run over her, but she hit her head against the truck’s body. Passersby rushed Manisha to Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital where doctors declared her dead on arrival,” the officer said, explaining the sequence of events.

The officer added that Kalpana escaped with light bruises to her legs, but Sanjana suffered fractures to her left leg and right hand in the accident. The two girls were taken to the Balaji Hospital where doctors released Kalpana after first aid, and advised surgery to fix Sanjana’s leg fracture, he said.

According to the police records, this was the sixth road accident in which a person has died under the West Paschim Vihar police station area. The accident also underlined the dangers that pedestrians are exposed to on the city roads.

Pedestrians, motorcyclists and cyclists accounted for 89% of the 1,197 deaths that occurred due to road accidents in the national capital in 2020, a report released by the Delhi transport department in February said. The report also said that 51% of all fatal accidents in 2020 were hit-and-run cases.

Samir Sharma, deputy commissioner of police (outer Delhi), said the police was informed about the accident at 8.08am on Wednesday. As soon as the police reached the spot, it was found that three girls who were on their way to school were hit by a car. He said the passersby told the police personnel that one of the girls who was directly hit by the speeding car was hurled into the air and hit her head on a truck moving along the car.

The truck was carrying LPG cylinders. “The deceased was identified as Manisha Yadav (18). She was later taken to Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital, where she was declared dead. The other two injured girls - Kalpana Kumari and Sanjana Kumari - were moved to Balaji hospital for medical assistance. While Kalpana has been released from the hospital, after getting medical aid for minor injuries on her knees, Sanjana is under observation as she had broken her left leg and right hand in the accident,” he said.

He added that the drivers of both the Tata Tiago car and the truck left their vehicles on the spot and ran away.

“A case under sections 279, 337, 338 and 304(A) of the Indian Penal Code and 184 of the Motor Vehicles’ Act was registered and two teams were formed to arrest the offenders,” the DCP said.

By Wednesday evening, the driver of the car and that of the truck were both arrested, the DCP said. “The driver of the car was identified as Punshpender Bhardwaj, a resident of Bahadurgarh, and the driver of the truck was identified as Mukesh (goes by single name), a native of Bihar,” the DCP added.

Kalpana said Manisha was in a good mood over the last few days as she was going to Madhubani, Bihar, with her parents to attend a wedding in the family on April 20. “She was going to leave on Tuesday, but then postponed it for Thursday. Had she left for Madhubani, I would not have lost a close friend,” Kalpana said.

Relatives of Sanjana said that she will undergo surgery on her leg to fix a fracture on Wednesday night at a local hospital. “The doctors said that she does not have any life-threatening injuries. But we have not met her yet,” said Suraj Kumar, her cousin brother.

Tunna Lal Yadav, Manisha’s father, however, blamed the government and police authorities for not constructing a foot overbridge or managing the traffic at the spot. “Almost every earning member of the families living in JJ Colony, Udyog Nagar, is a factory worker who has migrated from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. We are merely a vote bank. In the absence of a foot overbridge, our children have no option but to cross the road amid heavy traffic to reach their school, situated on the other side of the road. Despite claims, our leaders could not ensure construction of an overbridge,” he said.

When contacted, Raghuvinder Shokeen, MLA from Nangloi Jat, said he will look into the matter and ensure the construction of an FoB as soon as possible. “I’ll talk to the authorities concerned,” he said.