Outrage as pvt bus runs over 2 school kids in Jalandhar

A bus belonging to Libra Company ran over two schoolchildren on a cycle at Lamba Pind Chowk on the Jalandhar-Amritsar highway this afternoon. While one of them died on the spot, the other was critically injured. Enraged, relatives of the victims and their supporters blocked the highway for four hours. 

Police Commissioner Yurinder Singh Hayer, all ADCPs, ACPs and SHOs rushed to the trouble site. As the situation worsened, the anti-riot police (ARP) and the tear gas squad were called.

Nishan Sartaj (12), a student of Government School in Sheikhey village, died on the spot. His cousin, Mohit (14), also a student, was seriously injured. His legs were crushed under the wheels.

Nishan Sartaj

Within minutes, hundreds of protesters surrounded the bus (PB13AB5317). Meanwhile, the BJP Chief Parliamentary Secretary, KD Bhandari, and former Congress minister Avtar Henry also reached there and tried to placate the protesters who refused to remove Nishan’s body under one of the bus tyres. As the police intervened, the protesters threw stones but no one was injured. The police resorted to a mild lathi-charge to disperse the crowd. Accepting the administration’s offer to pay compensation, it was past 4 pm that the family of the deceased allowed the body to be moved to the local Civil Hospital.

The police have booked bus driver Sandeep Singh of Ballian village in Sangrur under Sections 307 and 304 of the IPC. The bus has been impounded. Leader of the Akhil Bhartiya Hindu Suraksha Samiti Deepak Kalia was booked for allegedly instigating the crowd to put the bus on fire.