The City police on Tuesday booked a bus conductor for negligence in connection with the incident in which a passenger who fell unconscious died allegedly after being denied timely medical help.
According to the police, a case under IPC Section 304 (A) [causing death by negligence] has been registered against conductor Bijoy Antony, 36, of Keezhmadu. Preliminary investigation revealed that he had failed to ensure timely medical help to the passenger.
The incident happened on Saturday last when 40-year old T.K. Lakshmanan, a native of Sultan Bathery and an employee of a hotel here, fell unconscious soon after he boarded the bus to Palarivattom from Maharaja’s College Ground. However, the bus continued to proceed from Shenoy’s Junction despite request of a co-passenger to rush the man to the nearest hospital.
A statement of the co-passenger said the bus crew did not heed his request and continued the trip up to Edappally. As the protests by fellow passengers intensified, the crew asked the co-passenger to take the man to hospital and dropped them at Edappally, nearly 8 km away. The complainant with the help of a traffic warden at Edappally rushed him to a hospital where he died later.
The hospital authorities too gave a statement to the police that the victim could have been saved had he been given timely treatment. However, nearly 45 minutes had passed when he was finally admitted to a hospital.
Bus to be seized
The police will now be initiating steps to seize the bus, plying in the Fort Kochi-Aluva route. The Motor Vehicles Department has already cancelled the conductor’s licence for six months.
Meanwhile, investigations revealed that the driver had come to know about the ailing passenger much later.
