NEW DELHI, Aug 3: In yet another hit-and-run case involving a minor, a woman was killed and her daughter critically injured when their scooter was struck by a speeding SUV car on Saket Nagar Road in Kanpur city in Uttar Pradesh.
The deceased, Bhawna Mishra (42), was pronounced dead at the scene. Her daughter, Medhavi Mishra (13), was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries and remains in critical condition. They were returning from a clinic when their scooter was hit by the speeding vehicle.
The minor driver, a 17-year-old Class 12 student, was accompanied by three of his classmates in the car. The group had all bunked classes. CCTV footage of the incident, which was circulated widely on social media, shows the speeding car veering sideways and striking the scooter. Another camera angle captures the horrific aftermath as the impact sends both the woman and her daughter sliding across the road.
Eyewitnesses told authorities that the SUV was travelling at high speed, approximately 100 km/h, when it struck the scooter before crashing into a car parked on the roadside. Police said the accused boy did not have a driving licence and that the investigation indicated he was attempting to perform stunts in the car with his friends.
Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (ADCP) Ankita Sharma said the minor driver has been taken into custody along with his father and the vehicle has been impounded. The police have registered a case under charges including culpable homicide not amounting to murder and reckless driving following a complaint from the deceased’s husband, Anup Mishra.
In a similar case, two young software engineers were killed under the wheels of a SUV driven by a drunk minor driver in Pune last month. A fisherwoman was killed in another hit-and-run case in Mumbai, though the driver in this case was not a minor but was drunk.
(Manas Dasgupta)