Road rage lands woman IT employee in hospital

An IT employee was beaten up for protesting against rash driving at Habra in North 24 Parganas.

The incident comes at the time when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has launched the ‘Safe Drive Save Life’ campaign to reduce the number of accidents in the state and urged common people to follow traffic norms.

The victim Saswati Ghosh, an employee of an IT company at Salt Lake sector V, was travelling in a van-rickshaw with some more members of her family, when the incident took place near a petrol pump in Habra.

A car suddenly hit the van-rickshaw, which led to all the trouble. Ghosh and her family, who are residents of Hijolpur area in Habra, somehow managed to stop the car and protested against the driver who drove recklessly on a congested road.

As the road in that area was too congested, the victim told the car driver that traffic norms should be followed and one must be careful while driving car in such areas. In return, the passengers in the car began passing lewd comments on the woman for stopping their vehicle, which led to an altercation.

The situation turned worse when the accused pushed her and allegedly started beating her up.

Finally, the police rushed to the spot and rescued the victim. They took her to a local hospital where she is currently admitted for her injuries.

It is learnt that the woman received severe injuries on her head. After examining her, doctors said that there could be a blood clot in her head. As a result, she would need to undergo a CT scan test.

She was initially taken to Habra Sub-divisional Hospital, but later had to be shifted to Barasat District Hospital due to deterioration of her condition. She was again shifted to a private hospital where she was undergoing treatment till the report last came in.

It is learnt that the family members could not lodge a complaint with the police as they were busy in the hospital for the treatment of the victim. Surprisingly, the person who was in the car lodged a complaint with the police alleging that the victim attacked him.

Local people, however, demanded posting of more policemen in the area as traffic on the particular stretch of the road had been increasing every day.

Many believe the problem of traffic congestion will not be solved, unless more traffic police personnel are posted. 

However, the traffic situation in the area had improved a lot after the launch of the ‘Safe Drive Save Life’ campaign.