Chennai: Two drunken men attacked a physically challenged pedestrian after robbing him and chased him on Poonamallee High Road. The poor fellow came under the wheels of an MTC bus and died with his face crushed beyond recognition on Sunday evening, police said.
The incident occurred in broad daylight when the victim was walking from the Central railway station to Egmore in Poonamallee High Road.
The two men identified as M. Devan (30) an auto driver and mechanic V. Kamal alias Madurai Muthu of Dr Santhosh Nagar in Egmore were in an inebriated condition when they intercepted a physically challenged man walking on the pavement and demanded cash from him.
When the victim, said to be from Madhya Pradesh, avoided the drunken men and kept walking, they chased him and took away his cash and mobile phone after which they started attacking the disabled man.
In a frightened state, the man tried to run and escape from them, when he slipped from the pavement and fell on the road. Unfortunately, at that same moment an MTC bus heading Koyambedu from Broadway ran over him.
The passersby alerted the police and Anna square traffic investigation police rushed to the spot and sent his body to Kilpauk government hospital for post-mortem.
Egmore law and order police have registered a case and arrested the two men and detained the MTC bus driver Eshwaran.
Police, however, believe that the drunken men pushed the victim under the bus. “His face was crushed under the front wheel of the bus leaving us unable to identify the man,” said K. Settu, inspector, Egmore law and order.
On being asked why the situation could not have been intercepted by patrol vehicles and the control rooms, the inspector said that such facilities have not arrived yet, however, the installation of CCTV cameras have helped them nab the suspects on the same day.
This incident has shown how insensitive the public is to the disabled, says S. Namburajan, state general secretary, Tamil Nadu Association for the rights of all types of differently able and caregivers. “The police department should conduct camps to sensitize the people about the needs of the disabled. Section 92 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities act says that anybody involved in bullying and teasing people with disabilities would be punishable with five years of imprisonment,” he said.
