The minibus belonging to the Sri Venkateswara Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Alwarthirunagar, which ran over seven-year-old V.J. Theeksheth, parked at the Valasaravakkam police station in Chennai on Monday. | Photo Credit: B. JOTHI RAMALINGAM
A seven-year-old boy was run over by a school minibus on the premises on Monday in Alwarthirunagar.
The victim has been identified as V.J. Theeksheth, 7, son of Vetrivel and Jennifer, of Virugambakkam. He was studying in Sri Venkateshwara Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Alwarthirunagar.
The boy, along with other students, got down from the bus at 8.30 a.m. While the other children went to their classes from the rear side of the bus, Theeksheth was going in front of the bus. The driver moved the vehicle without noticing the boy and hit him. The boy fell and came under the front wheel of the vehicle.
The boy was bleeding and struggling for life. The school staff rushed him to a nearby hospital and he was later referred to another private hospital where he was declared brought dead . His body was sent to the Government Royapettah Hospital.
Parents of the boy rushed to the school. The police personnel from Valasaravakkam station inspected the accident spot. The police detained the driver of the minibus, S. Poongavanam, 64, and the vehicle was taken to the police station.
Deputy Commissioners of Police K. Meena (T. Nagar) and Pradeep (St. Thomas Mount) and officers of the School Education and Transport departments conducted further investigation. Security was tightened at the school. The police interrogated the principal and other staff along with the driver at the station.
A senior police officer said: “After scrutiny of the CCTV footage and interrogation with the staff, we found that the boy was knocked down by the minibus when the driver drove forward negligently. The caretaker was behind the bus helping two children. We have booked a case for causing death due to negligence.”
A case has been booked under Section 304-A (Causing death due to negligence) of the IPC against Poongavanam, Gnana Sathiya, 65, principal Dhanalakshmi, 46, and school correspondent Jaya Subash.
The police arrested Poongavanam and Gnana Sathiya and sent them to a court for remand.
Family members protest
The family alleged that the school management failed to rush the boy to the hospital soon after the accident. While the post-mortem was completed in the afternoon, the family refused to receive the body and staged a protest at Government Royapettah Hospital demanding the immediate arrest of the principal and the correspondent.
Ms. Jennifer, boy’s mother, said: “I sent my son to school by bus around 8.30 p.m. Ten minutes later, I got a call about my child meeting with an accident on the school premises. The caller did not tell me the exact cause of the accident. I could see only the body of my son at the hospital. We want the correspondent and the principal to be arrested.”
However, in the evening the family received the body.
Notice to school
A notice was sent to the school by the Chennai Chief Educational Officer (CEO) asking for an explanation about the accident within 24 hours.
“The attender was not paying attention and should have been more alert about the students getting down from the bus. On campus, the Physical Education teachers or another staff member is expected to guide children who get dropped off, to their classrooms. We have asked the school why this was not done,” said S. Mars, Chennai CEO.
The Directorate of Matric Schools has asked for a report from the CEO. “Officials, including the CEO, went to the campus in the morning and conducted an inquiry. The school has said that the teacher in charge of ensuring students safely disembark from the vehicle and proceed to their classes was on leave, according to a preliminary inquiry. In this case, the school should have had another staff member coordinating this near the drop off point,” said A. Karuppaswami, Director of Matric Schools.
