A Mother's Fight for Justice and Better Road Safety

Gurgaon: 35-year-old Jyoti Gupta holds her 8-month-old daughter Ashiya close to her while she recounts the events of 21st April. Just over a month ago, she witnessed her husband and daughter crushed under the wheels of a bus outside her home in Gurgaon.

The date was special for her and her husband Pankaj Gupta, cardiologist with Medanta Medicity hospital in Gurgaon. Their two-and-a-half year-old daughter, Lineshya was going to attend school for the first time. The excited couple had gone down together along with baby Ashiya to drop off their daughter. But a speeding bus crashed into Jyoti's world and turned it upside down.

Lineshya's body was thrown up in the air and landed at a distance. Mr Gupta's body was dragged for several feet till the bus came to a halt. Jyoti witnessed it all, even as she tried to save the infant in her arms. "My-8-month-old baby was with me. I was on the green belt in front of our house, when I suddenly saw a Haryana roadways bus almost coming over me. I covered my baby with my arms and in order to save her, jumped into the thorny bush on my side. But I could see the bus hitting my elder daughter and husband."

This is the first time Jyoti has spoken out. She is angry at what she calls a gross miscarriage of justice. "The driver tried to run away, but he was arrested. But within a day he got bail. Nobody from Haryana Roadways has even said sorry to me till date, leave any harsh measures"

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She has filed an online petition addressed to PM Narendra Modi. In the petition, she has asked the him to bring about better road safety, mandatory road safety education and an efficient process to get driving license.

"Accidents have not stopped even after my tragedy. The same thing happened to Gopinath Munde the other day. Drivers know they can get bail in 2 hours, which encourages them to do this. I hope the Prime Minister will hear my request."

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For Jyoti it has been hard month. As Lineshya's school bag lies in one corner of the room, Jyoti says " when I lay there on the ground that day, I thought even I was about to die. My whole life flashed past me. But now that I have survived it, I want to make sure that what happened with me does not happen to anyone else."