Bhopal: In an inhuman act, a family that included a five-day-old newborn and an octogenarian lady, was on Saturday thrown out of a bus in the midst of a jungle in a Madhya Pradesh district “on demand from the fellow passengers” after one of their female members died on board.
The heartrending incident, that took place in Damoh district, comes barely a day after a pregnant lady was “made” to walk six km in labor pain to the hospital for delivery in a village in Chhattarpur district in the state, due to non-availability of ambulance.
According to the police, Ram Singh (37), was taking his sick wife Malli Bai who developed complications after giving birth to a baby girl five days ago, to Damoh district hospital for treatment in a private bus. He was accompanied by his 82-year-old mother and the newborn. His wife, however, breathed her last on board.
The bus driver then offloaded the family along with the body of the deceased woman at Chenpur, a forested area, when the passengers expressed their reservations to travel with a dead person on board.
Ram Singh and his old mother were wailing standing on roadside, even as passersby did not come to their help. Later, two advocates, Mrutyunjay Hazari and Rajesh Patel, stopped by and called police for help.
“A police patrol reached the spot, but left without helping the distraught family stating that the area did not come under their jurisdiction,” the two lawyers told reporters. The good Samaritan-duo later arranged a private ambulance to carry the family to their home.
“It is a shameful act by the driver and conductor of the bus to dump the family like this. I have asked the local superintendent of police to file criminal cases against them and cancel the permit of the bus,” state transport minister Bhupinder singh said.
