Auto driver arrested for refusing to take child in peril to hospital

Kolkata: Kolkata Police have arrested an auto-rickshaw driver for allegedly refusing to take a one-and-half-year old child to a hospital after he had swallowed a plastic item.

The incident took place on Monday morning. Police are looking for two other auto-rickshaw drivers who have also been accused of not taking the patient to the hospital. According to the police, the victim boy, a resident of Sakuntala Park area in Behala swallowed a plastic item while playing on the courtyard of his residence.

Few minutes after the incident, the victim started complaining about some uneasiness in his throat and also respiratory distress.

The family members of the baby failed to understand what happened to him.

The boy child soon started vomiting blood. His mother accompanied by some locals thought of taking the baby to a hospital and reached the nearby auto-rickshaw stand in Sakuntala Park area.

His mother urged an auto-rickshaw driver to drive them to a nearby hospital.

The family members of the victim requested three auto-rickshaw drivers, one after the other, to take the baby to a nearby hospital as his condition became serious. But none of them agreed to take him to the hospital.

Finally, one auto-rickshaw who was passing through the area picked the baby and his mother and took them to a nearby private hospital.

The victim was immediately taken to the emergency ward of the hospital and the doctors removed the plastic item that he had swallowed. It was stated that the plastic item got stuck in his throat causing serious irritation.

The family members later lodged a complaint at the local police station on the basis of which police conducted a raid and held one auto-rickshaw driver.

During interrogation, the accused told the police that he refused to take the patient to the hospital as he was supposed to drive a Madhyamik candidate to the examination centre. Police are verifying his statements.

Raids are being conducted to nab the two other accused who also refused to take the patient to the hospital.