Woman, 3-yr-old son drown in open drain, bodies found holding hands
The family of the victims alleged that police delayed the rescue operation due to a jurisdictional conflict
A 23-year-old woman and her three-year-old son died after they allegedly fell into a waterlogged drain managed by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) near the Ghazipur paper market in east Delhi, police officers said, even as the family of the victims alleged that a jurisdictional issue regarding the location of the drain triggered a dispute between the Delhi and Uttar Pradesh police, leading to the loss of precious time and delaying the search and rescue operation by nearly two hours.
Eventually, locals said a team from the Ghazipur police station arrived at the scene around 9.30pm and fished out the bodies. The Delhi and UP police refuted the allegations made by the family.
Police identified the victims as Tanuja Bisht and her son Priyansh, who she was carrying in her arms at the time of the incident. According to officers, the drain was left open for desilting, which the woman missed as the area surrounding it was inundated, up to at least one-and-a-half feet, due to torrential rains on Wednesday.
The question of jurisdiction arose because the 1,350m long drain acts as a border between east Delhi and Khoda Colony in Ghaziabad. While most of it was permanently covered with concrete, some spots were opened for desilting — one of which the victims fell into. The open slots were supposed to be covered with removable concrete slabs.
The bodies of the mother and son were recovered around 11.30pm from the drain — nearly 100m away from the spot where they fell around 7.40pm — by divers arranged by the Delhi Police and the rescue teams from the UP administration. The teams also used an earthmover to break some concrete slabs.
While the locals and relatives of the victims said that the child was in his mother’s arms, police said that Priyansh slipped into the drain and his mother jumped in to save him. “The two were returning home to Khoda Colony when Priyansh fell into the drain. Tanuja jumped in to rescue him,” said deputy commissioner of police (east) Apoorva Gupta.
A 30-year-old relative of the victims, Pinki (single name), also jumped into the drain to rescue them, but some vegetable vendors and e-rickshaw drivers quickly pulled her out, police added.
Jurisdictional dispute
While negligence on the part of the civic agencies led to the deluge, the family of the victims alleged that police delayed the rescue operation due to a jurisdictional conflict.
“My sister-in-law and nephew fell into the drain around 7.30pm. My brother, Govind Bisht (Tanuja’s husband) called the police control room. However, both the Delhi and UP police claimed that the area where the incident happened did not fall under their jurisdiction. It was after 9.30pm that the Ghazipur police arrived and launched a search operation. A team from the UP administration also joined,” said Narendra Bisht.
DCP Gupta refuted the allegations and said that around 9.30pm, the SHO of Khoda police station (in Ghaziabad) called the SHO of the Ghazipur police station and said “The area fell in our jurisdiction”.
“Some local divers were also used for the search. Around 11pm, their bodies were fished out and rushed to Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital, where they were declared dead on arrival. The allegation of jurisdictional dispute is incorrect,” said the DCP.
Officers of the Ghaziabad Police also denied the allegations and said that a first team reached the spot around 8.18pm after receiving a rescue call from the Dial 112 emergency response system.
“We received information from Dial 112 at 8.12pm. Within the next 10 minutes, our fire department team reached the spot, and soon a team from the Khoda police station also arrived,” said Nimish Patil, DCP, trans-Hindon zone, Ghaziabad.
According to Narendra, Tanuja left home around 5.30pm with her son, Pinki and her two daughters to shop. “Priyansh was supposed to attend his first day of school on Thursday. His mother took him to the weekly market to buy a school bag and other stationery,” added Narendra.
DCP Gupta said that a case of death by negligence has been registered under section 106 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against unknown people at the Ghazipur police station.
(With inputs from Peeyush Khandelwal)