Kushinagar accident: Taking tough cognisance of the accident in Uttar Pradesh’s Kushinagar, Chief Yogi Adityanath has suspended four government officials. Apart from that a case was registered against the vehicle driver. An FIR was lodged against the manager and principal of the school. Thirteen children, who were going to school, were killed yesterday when a train rammed into their van at an unmanned railway crossing. Five others were injured as the Thawe-Kapatanganj passenger train hit the van carrying 25 people, mostly children from Divine Mission School, at 7 am on Friday.
A case was registered against the van driver Nayaz Ansari and Kushinagar’s Divine Mission School under section section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code. The case against the driver and the school was registered on the basis of a complaint lodged by Zaheer, the father of one of the children killed in the accident. According to reports, provisions of the Motor Vehicle Act are also likely to be invoked, DIG (Law and Order) Praveen Kumar said. The van belonged to the school. It has been learnt that Ansari was talking on his mobile phone and did not stop the van as a train approached the unmanned level crossing.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had directed officials to take stringent action in the case. The state government has also issued directions to suspend Kushinagar’s basic education officer Hemant Rao with immediate effect for laxity. Duddahi’s block education officer Shesh Bahadur Singh was also suspended. Two transport department officers also face possible suspension, the government said.
