Hit-and-run: Family of 2 victim kids struggles to get compensation

NEW DELHI:  A week after two children were crushed to death by a speeding car in a hit-and-run incident at south Delhi’s Lodhi Road Flyover, the family of the victims is still running pillar to post to get justice and compensation. 

Abida Begum, the mother of the two children aged six and 10 who were killed in the accident on June 10, said they have been doing the rounds of the police station since, but each time they are told to produce some or the other document to process the compensation. 

The southeast district police on Thursday said they arrested the driver of the car, a 27-year-old  businessman identified as Sahil Narang. “The police called me today (Friday) and told me that compensation could be given only if I produced an Aadhaar card,” said Begum, who does not have Aadhar and is now struggling to get the document. She said a lawyer had come to meet them on the day of the mishap but she has not heard anything from the lawyer since then.

Mohd Islam, the grandfather of the deceased children, lamented that their voice is not being heard because they are poor. “Our only mistake is that we are poor whose voices are never heard.” Islam and his family migrated from Bulandshahr (UP) to Delhi to earn a living. The maternal uncle of the children Mushtaq Ahmed said he is broken after the incident. “I used to take care of four children and now two of them are no more. We buried them with a heavy heart.”

Shahida Islam, the maternal aunt of the kids, said she wants justice to be delivered soon and a safe place for the family to live. “We haven’t yet thought of going to the court. We will see if we need to take that route or not.” On June 10, the speeding car had rammed another car in the early morning hours, killing Sonia (6) and her brother Amir (10) on the spot and injuring eight others. Islam said another woman, who too slept on the same footpath and was seriously injured in the accident, is in a coma at a hospital while her husband broke his leg.