Sitting on the floor of their house in east Delhi’s Vivek Vihar, 50-year-old Kusum Bansal, mother of Himanshu (24) who lost his life in a bike accident on Monday night, urged parents to not give in to the demands of their children.
The family had bought the sportsbike for Himanshu in November and now regret taking the decision.
“He was hell-bent on getting the bike. We requested him to buy a car instead but he didn’t budge,” said Ms. Bansal, wiping tears with one hand and holding on to her elder son Ankush Bansal with the other.
“Had he been in a car, he would have been alive. The car may have been damaged but at least he would have been saved,” she said.
The deceased’s father, Suresh Bansal, is furious: “Such bikes should be banned”.
Talked minutes before
Mr. Bansal was the last person to speak to Himanshu. “I had called him up around 8:30 p.m. He had said: “ papa main 15 min main aa raha hun (I am coming in 15 mins).” Just 30 minutes after the call, Mr. Bansal received a call informing him that his son had met with an accident.
“I couldn’t bear to see his body,” said Ms. Bansal, who had gone to the hospital immediately after receiving the call.
The family said that Himanshu had started out his day as usual on Monday. In the morning, he went to the utensils factory his father owns in Jhilmil. Later, he went to the family temple in Shahdara where he helped in Janamashtami preparations.
Seeing that the temple was missing decorative lights, he went to Connaught Place, claims the family.
He was supposed to take the car but he changed his mind and took the bike instead, Ms. Bansal said.
“He had even asked his brother to move the car, which was parked in front of the car he wanted to take. But his friend Ghazi came and then he changed his mind,” she added.
A video captured by Himanshu’s friend, Lakshay, shows that he and the deceased were speeding through traffic near Mandi House. The police suspect that the duo were racing. The family, however, denies that the friends were competing
“How can they race on roads with so many vehicles plying. And if they were, why didn’t the police stop them? There was anyway heavy checking in the run up to Independence Day,” said Himanshu’s maternal uncle Praveen Gupta.
‘He saved a life’
The family said that Himanshu lost his life trying to save the pedestrian who was crossing the road near Lady Irwin College.
Mr. Ankush, sitting next to his mother, broke down when a neighbour said that the family was going to start looking for a girl for Himanshu’s marriage. “We were going to start after Diwali,” said Ms. Bansal.
Going by his Facebook feed, Himanshu seemed to be extremely fond of biking. In a video posted on June 11, he can be seen wheeling at Murthal with his friends and pulling a stunt in another video posted on March 10.
The deceased lost his life while on his way home on his bike when he lost balance after hitting a pedestrian and hit the wall of the college. He had gone to Connaught Place with two of his friends Ghazi Khan and Lakshay Choudhary who were behind him when the incident happened.
Mr. Chaudhary refused to talk when contacted.
