Crushed by rear wheels after fall from bus in Behala, driver flees, probe underway
Telegraph | 3 June 2025
A woman tripped while getting off a bus and came under its rear wheels in Behala on Monday morning.
The deceased worked as a domestic help at a Behala residence and was on her way to work when the accident happened, police said
Eyewitnesses said Jamuna Mondal, 45, was wearing a sari that got entangled around her feet, resulting in the accident.
Mondal, a resident of Amtala in Bishnupur, South 24-Parganas, was travelling in a bus on the Esplanade-Diamond Harbour route. She was about to get off near Shakher Bazar on Diamond Harbour Road when she lost her balance and fell.
The accident was reported around 9.25am. Mondal was declared dead at Vidyasagar State General Hospital, the police said.
The bus was impounded, but its driver managed to flee. The fatal squad of the traffic police has initiated an investigation to find out whether human negligence or a mechanical fault caused the accident.
A search has been launched to capture the bus driver.
According to residents of the area, the accident could have been averted had the bus not been in a hurry.
“The bus was in a rush to speed away. Had the woman had enough time to get down or to recover when she tripped and fell, she would not have come under the rear wheels of the vehicle,” said a local shopkeeper.
Hundreds of buses ply along the city’s roads, often violating traffic signals, picking up and dropping off passengers at undesignated locations and driving recklessly, sometimes hitting pedestrians or other vehicles that are relatively smaller in size.
The police have started a case under sections of causing death due to negligence and rash and negligent driving.
A mechanical test of the bus would be conducted to ascertain the condition of the vehicle. Statement of the witnesses would also be recorded, the police said.