Mumbai:
A young girl in Mumbai is in hospital after her school bus hit her and then dragged her along for a few metres. Six-year-old Zahraa Shaikh had just stepped off the bus and was waiting for her two brothers to join her when the driver, who was listening to music on his ear-phones, started driving off. Eyewitnesses allegedly shouted loudly at him to stop, but he couldn't hear them. He has been arrested and charged with rash and negligent driving.
Zahraa was in critical condition this morning but has now been declared out of danger by her doctors. "The main concern of the doctors treating her was diagnosis of lung contusion, which results from bleeding internal tissues, due to trauma. She is responding well to medication," Dr Ashok Hatolkar, the medical superintendent at Nanavati Hospital told Mid-Day.
Zahraa is a student of Podar School in Santa Cruz.
"I don't blame the school, but the bus driver who was listening to music on his earphones while driving the bus," said Juwairiah Sheikh, mother of Zahraa, to Mid-Day. "If I am paying lakhs of rupees for the transportation of my children, I expect they be transported safely by trained drivers. My daughter is badly hurt. Her face is swollen and her eyes have turned red due to which she cannot see properly. The school authorities came to meet her in the hospital and assured us that she will be promoted to Standard II, as her exams are going on."
(With inputs from Mid-Day)