Minor on scooter injured by car driven by city police officer's wife in Nagpur; no case filed in four days

Nagpur: The alleged negligent driving of the wife of a city police officer left a minor student riding an Activa scooter seriously injured. Four days after the accident, no case has been registered. It is alleged that attempts are being made to shield the woman driver because she is a police officer's wife. The family of the seriously injured student, meanwhile, is not going to the police station to seek justice because the boy is a minor.

The incident took place around 1 pm on November 1, in front of the Air Force headquarters. The student was riding the Activa from Seminary Hills towards Futala lake. A car driven by the police officer's wife, coming from behind, took a left turn. According to eyewitnesses, the woman lost control of the car while turning. The car hit the Activa hard, and the student fell on the road and was seriously injured.

After the accident, the woman stopped the car some distance away but did not come forward to help the injured student, according to eyewitnesses. Two young men coming from behind stopped to help. They asked the woman to get out of the car and help the injured student. When she did not respond, the two stopped an autorickshaw and began taking the student to hospital. They asked the woman to follow the autorickshaw to the hospital. The young men first took the student to a private hospital at Ravinagar Chowk. Despite seeing his serious condition, the doctor there asked them to take him to a government hospital. The two then took the student to Mayo Hospital and informed his family about the accident. They also phoned the woman and asked her to come to the hospital and help. She still did not come.

The student has serious injuries to the head and several other parts of the body, and has been undergoing treatment in hospital for the past four days. The most striking aspect of the case is that the woman driver's husband is reported to be an officer in the city police. The student's family is being told that, because he is a minor, a case could also be registered against the student, and that the rule is being cited that the family would also be held at fault along with him. Already distressed by their son's serious condition, the family is in a state of uncertainty and has not filed a complaint.

The spot falls under the Gittikhadan police station area, which is also aware of the accident. It says the student is a minor and his family has not so far filed a formal complaint, and that a case will be registered once a complaint is received. The question, however, is why the police took no action on their own for four days despite knowing about the accident.

Road accidents in the city have raised questions about traffic management and police functioning. On Monday, thousands of citizens took to the road at Godhani after a woman was killed in a collision with a tipper. After the public anger, the administration had to bring in a bulldozer at night to clear encroachments on the road. On October 26, Sarvesh Arun Kaselikar, a 34-year-old engineer riding a bicycle, was hit and injured by a Sanjay Travels bus at Bajaj Nagar. He died during treatment on November 2. The Sanjay Travels bus was passing through inner city roads in violation of rules. Bajaj Nagar police registered a case as a formality; they neither recovered the bus nor arrested the driver. The bus had left from Bhole Petrol Pump Chowk, where there are many travel agency offices, and most buses from there run through inner city routes.

Citizens allege that the traffic department's police inspector receives a monthly "travels package" from Bhole Petrol Pump Chowk, and that the same is true of Baidyanath Chowk, Chhatrapati Chowk and other places in the city. Only a month and a half ago, DCP Aditya Mirkhelkar suspended an assistant police inspector who was collecting money at Baidyanath Chowk. Even so, traffic branch officers remain unmoved. On one hand the police expect ordinary citizens to follow traffic rules; on the other, the failure to register an FIR for four days in an accident involving a police officer's family raises many questions. Is the law equal for all, or is the clout of the uniform blocking action? The police have also not confirmed whether the car was insured or whether the woman driver holds a driving licence, it has emerged.