School bus in Gurugram's Sohna mows down two-year-old boy

Gurugram: Irresponsible driving and over-speeding in densely populated areas has claimed many lives in Gurugram, and Thursday morning saw a similar incident where a two-year-old boy died on the spot after being mowed down by a school bus.

The incident occurred at Vatika Kunj in Gurugram's Sohna, when the victim Aryan and his sister were being dropped of to school by their mother

Police said the incident took place around 8 am when the over-speeding bus lost control and hit the two-year-old.

The bus' driver Omprakash and conductor Jaiprakash, both below the age of 20 and hailing from Allahabad, immediately fled the spot after the accident.

Within a few minutes, nearby residents gathered and vandalised the school bus. Cops soon reached the spot and arrested the driver and the conductor.

The bus belongs to Vivek Model School in Vatika Kunj and police are in the process of verifying whether the school bus had the required documents to ply.

"The boy, Aryan, was accompanied by his mother when the accident took place near his house in Rithoj village, here on Sohna road. Aryan's mother had come to drop her son and daughter, studying in Class II and Class III, respectively, in Vivek Model School. The child came under the front wheel of the bus and died on the spot," said a senior officer of Gurugram police.

"The driver and conductor of the bus tried to flee after the accident, leaving behind the vehicle. Meanwhile, angry residents them vandalized the bus. The accused were later arrested," he added.

This is not for the first time that a young child has become casualty due to the carelessness of reckless drivers. In 2016, a five-year-old lost her life after being hit by a private school bus.

In April this year, the Regional Transport Authority had begun penalising school buses and private vehicles of transport that were flouting the directives laid by the Supreme Court for transportation of school students.

The key parameters of the directives include identification of school transport vehicles through yellow and blue paint, installation of speed governors and CCTV cameras, and not filling the vehicle with students beyond capacity.