THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights has registered a suo motu case pertaining to the incident in which four school students fell onto the road from a moving KSRTC bus recently.
Commission chairman P Suresh said in a statement that KSRTC authorities have failed to maintain any safety measures in buses. On Thursday, three Plus-two students and one Class X student of Government Higher Secondary School, Cotton Hill, fell from a bus after its front door accidentally opened near AIR office, Vazhuthacaud.
The injured students were identified as Krishna, Vinni and Vinnu (twins), and Sreedevi, the youngest of them. Vinnu is under observation at Medical College Hospital for suspected head injury.
According to Suresh, a similar accident happened at Kovalam three weeks ago, exposing the lackadaisical attitude of KSRTC authorities towards the safety of passengers.
“Children have the basic right to travel in vehicles safely. It is part of the protection of child rights. Hence, it is the responsibility of authorities to provide safety measures in vehicles,” Suresh said in the statement. The commission has also instructed State Police Chief Loknath Behera, Transport Commissioner R Sreelekha, KSRTC Managing Director M P Dinesh and district child protection officer to submit a report within two weeks.
Vinni and Krishna too are in the same hospital, while Sreedevi was discharged from a private hospital in Edappazhanji.The incident took place around 4.30pm when the bus, belonging to Vellanad depot, was on its way from East Fort to Vilappilsala.
Lackadaisical attitude
According to commission chairman P Suresh, a similar accident happened at Kovalam three weeks ago, exposing the lackadaisical attitude of KSRTC towards the safety of passengers