Ryan hit-and-run: child dies; bus driver held

She was dropped off on the wrong side of the road; car driver yet to be identified

Seven-year-old Jiya, who was hit by a car soon after she got off the school bus over a week ago, succumbed to injuries at Medanta Hospital here late on Tuesday evening. The bus driver has been arrested.

“She breathed her last around 11.30 p.m. on Tuesday. A case was already registered against the bus driver and the unidentified car driver in this connection.

The bus driver Vinod has been arrested,” said Sector-4 Police Post Incharge Inspector Aman Kumar. The body was handed over to the family on Wednesday after post-mortem.

Mr. Kumar said that the car driver was yet to be identified. “All we know is that she was hit by a white car. We examined the closed-circuit television camera footage as well, but we could not find any clue,” said Mr. Kumar.

There was no improvement in the condition of the girl since she was hospitalised.

Jiya, a Class III student of Ryan International School, was allegedly dropped off by the school bus on the wrong side of the road near Krishna Colony in Sector 9 on May 9 and was hit by a car while she was crossing the road. Jiya’s father, Pankaj Juneja, a Wipro executive, has lodged a complaint in this regard at the Sector 5 Police Station. It is alleged that the bus was without a conductor and an attendant, which is mandatory for school buses.

The school authorities, however, refuted the allegations that the bus was without a conductor. School Principal Peeya Sharma had told the reporters that a teacher had accompanied the girl. The teacher got off the bus holding Jiya’s hand but a student called out for her from inside the bus and she went back to attend to the student, said Ms. Sharma, adding that Jiya meanwhile rushed to cross the road and met with an accident.

After being hit by the car, the girl fell on the road and hit her head causing swelling in the brain.

The parents of several students had staged a protest at the school demanding that the school authorities pay for Jiya’s treatment.

The bus allegedly was without a conductor and an attendant, mandatory for school buses