Stairway stampede in govt school

All five students who died are girls and so are the most of the injured students.

The deceased have been identified as Lalita Nagar,Afroze Ansari (17),Mumtaz Ali,Monika David (16) and Ayesha Khatoun.

There are several versions on how the stampede occurred on the narrow staircase in the two-floor building. But the police and the girls who witnessed the incident say the boys tried to molest girls. The 22 narrow steps became a death trap for the girls who were trapped between two groups of boys and fear of molestation.

The students,who studied in two shifts,had been called in together for the exams. “The children usually sit on the floor and since water had filled up the ground floor classrooms the boys were asked to go upstairs,” said a teacher,“but there was no space.”

At 9.25 am,the boys were asked to go to the first floor and write their exams.

“We were in class when the boys came in started harassing us,” said Shabnam,a student of Class VII. “We ran towards the stairs and while we were running down the stairs,the boys followed us and some were still coming up.” For some time,which to her seemed like hours,the boys molested the girls in the packed staircase. Then everything just started tumbling. “I was there on the stairs,but I do not know what happened and how,it happened so suddenly,” Shabnam said. Her friend and cousin,Mumtaz Ali,was one of the dead.

Another student,Nazneen,recalled: “A boy snatched away my dupatta and misbehaved with me but there was no place to hide. We were completely trapped. I remember each one of them and I can recognise them in a parade.”

Around 10.20 am,ambulances came in,and scores of injured children,along with the dead,were rushed to the GTB Hospital.

Children began running back to their homes,and then to the houses of friends who were injured or dead. Soon,the village was on the street —angry,hurt and broken — and had to be stopped by the police from ransacking the school and halting traffic.

Outside the GTB Hospital’s Emergency ward,four teachers patiently waited for information. The Casualty Ward resembled a war-zone. At 5 pm,the injured children had not eaten,which made placating them close to impossible. “Five students are on life support,others are relatively stable. Four have suffered fractures but will recover,” said Medical Superintendent Dr OP Kalra. “Most are in shock.”

According to the postmortem report,all five girls suffered injuries on the neck and chest. “There is no evidence of any electrocution or head injury. Deaths are due to suffocation,” added Kalra.

The police said the school was overcrowded.

Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat said a case under IPC Section 304(A) — causing death by rash or negligent act— and Section 337 (causing hurt by an act which endangers human life) has been registered. The police have also registered a case of causing death due to negligence against the school management.

What they said
Systems should be there in schools to ensure that no such incident occurs. Though it is a state subject,this is unacceptable. I do not have too much information on the reason for this incident,but is very unfortunate and our heart goes out to the aggrieved families
Kapil Sibal,Minister for Human Resource Development

She left at 8.30 am. Her friends later said there was a scuffle between boys and girls and some girls were taken to the hospital. Now my husband is at the hospital and everything will be fine.
Yagesh,mother of Monica David

She was a nice girl and was fasting today. She was to sit for her social sciences paper today and was preparing for it after reciting the Quran.
Samseeran
mother of Afroze Ansari

Squeezing 1,450 children in seven small rooms was impossible. It was a fatal mistake. The children were seated in Principal’s office,the library and even the staff room.
A teacher of the school

— By Sahim Salim,Zahid Rafiq & Vidya Krishnan