Abhiral came under the wheels when the vehicle was reversing.
A three-and-half year old school boy in Delhi was crushed to death by his school van when he was being dropped home in North Delhi's Civil Lines.
The incident took place shortly after noon on Tuesday, when Aviral Rana was being dropped home. The child was returning home from his preparatory school in Tis Hazari, two kilometers from his home.
Despite not seeing Aviral's mother, the driver dropped off the boy on the main road -- a clear violation of rules that say in such cases, the child should be taken back to the school.
The van then reversed, the driver failing to realise that the boy was still standing on the left. The child got run over and "dragged for some distance," said Aviral's father Hitendra Rana, a technician with the Railways.
Abhiral was in play school.
The boy was rushed to the closest hospital, but could not survive his injuries. "It had just been a month since we were sending him to school in this van," Mr Rana added.
The vehicle was a private Maruti van ferrying school children. The vehicle has been seized, and the driver, 28-year-old Rahul Kumar, has been arrested.
So far, there is no charge of negligence against the school, but initial probe suggests that the driver had broken a number of other rules.
All private vans working as school vans should have a board at the rear end saying "school bus" which wasn't there. There should be a helper in the van, in this case there was none.