A 5,000-strong mob went on a rampage for nearly two hours this morning setting nine buses on fire after a five-year old child was killed and his mother seriously injured by a private bus on route 206 on Dhakuria bridge.
This is the third major accident to have taken place at the Jodhpur Park end of the bridge in the last six months.
Within minutes of the accident, even as the victims were being rushed to hospital, an angry mob took total control of the area, stoning passing vehicles and targetting policemen in sight. Six of the nine buses set on fire were totally gutted.
However, in the melee, the driver of the bus which had run over the boy managed to escape after hastily abandoning the vehicle in front of the Jadavpur police station.
Police said that the boy, Rahul Halder, a resident of Subhashgram in Sonarpur, was brought dead to the Bangur hospital. His mother, Bakul, has been admitted to Ramakrishna Mission Seva Pratisthan with head injuries.
Acting deputy commissioner of police (south), Banibrata Basu, said Rahul and his mother had come to Dhakuria to visit the boy?s grandparents. But as they were crossing the road at the foot of the bridge a bus rushed towards them and mowed them down.
Bakul, who is still not aware of her son?s death, recounted the incident from her hospital bed. ?With Rahul?s hand firmly in mine, I was crossing the road towards Gobindapur,? she said.
?Suddenly the bus came crashing on to me. I became unconscious and all that I remember is someone trying to remove my son from the path of the bus.?
After a brief pause, she hesitantly asked, ?Can you tell me where my son is?? Bakul?s husband Ramprasad, a mason, is not even aware of the accident as he has been away from home for the last three days.
?My husband will be very angry when he hears of this,? said Bakul.
The anger that erupted on the streets of Dhakuria this morning caught the police totally off-guard. Soon after the incident, a little over a dozen policemen rushed to the spot from the Lake police station but they were heavily outnumbered as most of the force had been deployed for security duty for the Vietnamese President?s visit.
The mob turned its ire on the policemen as soon as they arrived, attacking them with sticks and stones. The police fought a pitched battle with the mob even as reinforcements arrived from Jadavpur and Tollygunge police stations.
Even a police lathicharge failed to deter the crowd, who were bent on ?teaching the securitymen a lesson?.
An eyewitness said that at this stage the officer-in-charge of the Jadavpur police station whipped out his revolver and fired in the air to scare the mob. However, Bhattacharya has strongly denied this.
The enraged crowd then started hurling stones at passing buses and setting them ablaze even as the policemen helplessly looked on. Within minutes, shopkeepers downed their shutters and fled the area in panic.
Two hours later, after jawans of the Rapid Action Force were deployed, the situation could be brought under control.
?When bus and mini-bus drivers indulge in rash driving, the policemen simply look the other way,? said Rabi Das, a local resident. ?Naturally, the people are going to be angry with them.?