Punjab.
The shame just does not end. We seem fated to see encores of a tragedy that should have never occured. A 14 years old girl is traveling in a bus owned by a Company that belongs to the Chief Minister of her state. She is accompanied by her mother and a young guy who is their relative.
The incident took place on Wednesday evening near Gill village in Moga, over 150 km from capital Chandigarh.
The girl, a Class 9 student and her mother had boarded the bus in Moga town but were targeted by a group of male passengers who allegedly passed obscene remarks at them.
Eyewitnesses said both the mother and daughter were subjected to molestation and lewd remarks by some youth and the bus staff after they boarded it.
They raised an alarm and even complained to the driver, who allegedly did not respond, according to police.
Seeing no escape the both jumped off the moving bus which instead of stopping had increased speed after the molestation began. Either that, or they were pushed out when they began shouting too much. The girl died on the spot and the mother, badly injured is being treated in a hospital. The incident highlights the lack of security for women in public transport.
It is learnt that the driver and cleaner of the bus have been arrested. The bus was being operated by a transport company called Orbit Aviation, which is owned by the Badal family.
On reports that the bus belonged to the Orbit company, chief minister Parkash Singh Badal said: “I never took interest (in the Orbit company affairs). I don’t know anything about the transport company and have never been to its office”. He said the incident was “very unfortunate” and promised swift action against the guilty even as he insisted he “never took interest” in the company’s affairs and had “never visited its office”.
“No one in the bus came to the rescue of the victims. There were not many passengers in the bus when the incident happened,” an eyewitness is said to have told police.
The girl was declared brought dead by doctors while the mother has been admitted to a government hospital in Moga.
Senior superintendent of police Jatinder Singh Khaira said a case has been registered and the bus has been impounded.
“We are investigating the matter and trying to nab the accused,” a police officer told media on Wednesday night.
It may be recalled that one of the main election campaigns of the BJP had been that in the ‘Modi Sarkar’ our daughters would not be molested and they could move around freely. What has happened to that promise, people wonder when such incidents continue in a state that is close to Delhi and run by a BJP government too.
