Boy crushed under wheels of school van that dropped him home

NEW DELHI: A three-year old boy was crushed under the wheels of his school van in front of his parents as he was dropped outside his house in Civil Lines area of north Delhi today. The victim, identified as Aviral, was a student of John Wesley School and he was dropped off by his school van around 2 PM outside his house in Shri Ram Railway Colony when the tragic incident took place. "The driver in a hurry could not see the kid standing in front of the van and mowed him down. He was rushed to Parmanand Hospital where he was declared brought dead," said Madhur Verma, DCP (north). Parents of the boy were waiting to pick him up when the incident took place. The boy was dragged for several metres as the van driver failed to realise that Aviral had come under the wheels, police said. As his parents raised an alarms along with the neighbours, the van stopped and the boy was taken from under the vehicle and rushed to the hospital in the same vehicle. There were other children in the van when the incident happened. The accused driver, Rahul, 28, was later arrested by the police. A case under sections 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way) and 304(A) (causing death by negligence) of IPC has been registered at the Civil Lines police station, said the officer. The parents of the child were in utter pain and shock over the tragedy, he said. Aviral had recently started going to school. His father Hitendra, a railway employee, used to drop and pick him up from the school, but had hired the van a month back.