It took media reports and a minister's intervention for four-year-old Adrika Ghosal to get even a semblance of justice.
Adrika had been in and out of hospitals lately. She had multiple fractures on her left leg, multiple bruises on her face and major injuries close to her private parts. She has already undergone two operations.
On August 16, the child had fallen off an auto rickshaw while on her way home from school. The speeding vehicle had taken a turn to avoid an obstruction on the road. Adrika tumbled off and was dragged for about 40 metres before her mother could persuade the driver to stop. And once her mother jumped out, he drove off without even looking back.
"I was screaming, asking the driver to stop but he would not," said Adrika's mother Sarmishtha.
The police had taken no action on the case. Their excuse – they could not zero in on the driver. But on Monday, officers of Cossipore police station arrested driver Sanjay Das after transport minister Madan Mitra intervened in the matter following media reports.
Will that help Adrika? "Now she is so traumatised, she keeps telling me she is scared," said her mother.
{{/usCountry}}Will that help Adrika? "Now she is so traumatised, she keeps telling me she is scared," said her mother.
{{/usCountry}}"The police have caught all the bad guys," Mitra told the child when he visited her home on Monday. Her other consolation?
"You will not have to go to school till the pujas," Mitra told Adrika, who is likely to be confined to bed for two months.