Death on way to school

Pradeep had barely managed a toehold on the footboard. When the bus overturned,he came under it.

Among the dead was an unidentified man whose head was smashed,and a 17-year-old boy named Mona Bishth,police said. They said the driver of the bus had absconded.

Mona’s mother came out of the Sushruta Trauma Centre,where the injured had been taken,crying and beating her chest. Her adopted son wanted a tour of the city and she had let him take the bus.

At least 20 other passengers were injured including several schoolchildren who were on their way to schools in Daryaganj.

Pradeep,who boarded the minibus in the morning to reach Jain Public School,was the youngest of three brothers. His siblings had quit studies so that Pradeep could continue with his.

Squatting at the threshold of her brick house in Nehru Vihar,Bhajanpura,Ganga Devi called out for her grandson in a song of mourning.

“Listen to me my sister. Tell me who took him away. I can’t find my grandson,” she cried out loud as neighbours consoled her. Inside,mother Durga Devi sat in a state of shock.

The family struggled to keep the news of Pradeep’s death from father Devmittar Tiwari. He was being operated in the Safdarjung Hospital for a tumour,the family said.

Outside their one-room home,Ganga Devi clutched a little,passport size photograph of Pradeep,one that was taken for his school identification card. She held on to Akshay,her other grandson,and wept. “Don’t tell the father. He will not survive the news,” she said.

In the morning,mother Durga Devi had warned Pradeep not to take the smaller buses. She gave him Rs 20 and urged him to take a DTC bus instead.

Wednesday was the first time the Class 10 student boarded a minibus because he was late for school. The tyres burst and the bus,which has a capacity of 14,toppled over killing three on the spot.

The rest — more than 20 — crawled their way out of the bus through the windshield,said an injured Jyoti. Her left arm was trapped under the side of the bus,she said. A Class 12 student of SKV Dayanand,Jyoti has fractured her hand.

The bus stood outside the Majnu Ka Tila police station in the afternoon. A white shoe dangled from the side. Bloodied shoes could be seen strewn inside. Among the glass splinters and the blood,a glove and a cap,there was a page where a child had scribbled numbers and added them.

All day long,the Tiwaris’ neighbours talked about these killer buses and the lack of government schools in slums,forcing the poor to send their children to faraway schools in overcrowded buses — because they couldn’t afford any better.

Eldest brother Avinash quit school to become a security guard. He had to support the family after the father was diagnosed with thyroid tumour and could no longer repair sewing machines at a workshop. Akshay also took up a job in Ghaziabad.