A student of class six died after falling off a moving school van near Aisha Manzil on Monday, the first day of the new academic year.
The 12-year-old, Muhammad Hussain, son of Hanif, was heading home when the accident took place. His schoolmates said that Hussain was playing in the van and fell out by accident while others said that some children pushed him out. Unfortunately, the driver only found out that Hussain had fallen out when the children started screaming. “I was dropping the children as per routine,” the driver Ayaz told The Express Tribune. “I have been driving for a long time and nothing like this has ever happened.”
Ayaz picks up around 24 children every day and had to drop at least 10 more of them when the tragedy took place. “I stopped the van immediately and put him inside and rushed to the hospital,” he said. The children play around in the van and it is possible he must have fallen out during one of their games, he added.
A witness recalled that a taxi was coming right behind the van but they could not tell if it hit the boy or not. “Thankfully, the van was not speeding,” he said.
Hussain had died by the time he reached hospital even though the doctors could not find any apparent physical marks on his body. There were no fractures but his nose and mouth was bleeding, said a doctor.
The boy’s family reached the hospital and took away the body without any legal formalities. They said that they did not want to register the case and were not interested in a post mortem. Hussain’s father is a salesman by profession and the family lives in Gulberg Block 3.
The schoolteachers were also shocked to learn about the accident. A teacher told The Express Tribune that they have asked all the students and the drivers to keep the doors shut as they have received complaints earlier.
The driver said, however, that the door was closed. The children opened the door as the van was still moving when Hussain slipped out. “I stopped them at least three or four times from opening the door but, most of them are very young, and refuse to obey my instructions,” he explained. Meanwhile, the children in the van said that Hussain opened the door himself and was trying to hang on to it.
An inquiry officer, ASI Saleem Siddiqi, said that there are some complications in this case. “I approached the family but they are not agreeing to register the case or to nominate anyone in the FIR,” he said. “We will register the case on behalf of the state and it is up to the family whether or not to pursue it.”
Siddiqi said they would investigate all scenarios, including the driver’s negligence, the role of Hussain’s schoolmates and that of the young boy.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 12th, 2011.
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