13-yr-old boy gets trapped under school bus tyre, dies

Udaipur: Pranav Vijayvargiya, a class-VI student of a private school at Nathdwara in Rajsamand, was killed after being hit by his school bus, leaving him trapped under the rear tyre, on Saturday noon.

The child was the last one to get down everyday and on Saturday too, he was alone in the bus. As the bus halted at his stop, the boy ran down.

Unfortunately, as he reached behind the bus, the driver applied the reverse gear and the vehicle mowed down the boy, who died on the spot.

The incident took place around 12.45pm, as the school closed early as per the examination schedule at 12pm. People gathered in large numbers at the accident spot, while the driver Rajesh Paneri fled from the scene. “We have filed a report after receiving a complaint from the victim’s uncle Naresh Kumar. The autopsy has been conducted and the case has been registered under sections 279 and 304-A of the IPC,” Jitendra Anchalia, Circle Inspector, Nathdwara police station, told TOI. Meanwhile, police had to face the fury of the people and authorities had a tough time convincing them. The residents claimed that the area where the accident took place was a narrow road where the entry of heavy vehicles should be strictly prohibited. People also said that had there been a conductor or assistant in the bus, the accident could have been avoided, as he would have guided the driver for a safe reverse.

“There is an assistant for every bus but unfortunately, the assistant in Pranav’s bus had to leave early before the school closed because his wife was ill. The bus driver was alone and it was a slope where the bus stopped to drop Pranav. When he was at the rear side, the driver changed the gear and the vehicle moved backwards thus hitting the child,” Kiran Kaushik, the principal of the Ankur School told TOI. The incident came as a big shock for the school and a pall of gloom descended in the locality as the news spread.