Late night rash driving claimed more lives in Kolkata even as city’s civil society strongly condemned the “highly infectious spoilt brat syndrome,” demanding stringent laws for reckless driving.
A day after BJP MP Rupa Ganguli’s son was arrested for rash and negligent driving with his car literally piercing through a concretewall in a south Kolkata locality, two Bangaldeshi nationals were killed when a speeding Jaguar lost control and rammed into a Mercedes Benz which flung in the air and crushed the victims against a police kiosk near which they were standing to avoid pouring rain. One among the victims is the vice president of a top multi-national Bank in Bangladesh.
The driver of the erring Jaguar, Parvez Arsalan, a 22-year-old youth and son of the owner of an upmarket restaurant chain was arrested even as he tried to flee with his vehicle. The accident happened in the small hours of Saturday at the crossing of Shakespeare Sarani and Loudon Street in south-central Kolkata where Farhana Islam Tania (30), a resident of Dhaka, and Kazi Md Mainul Alam (36), from Jhenaidah district in Bangladesh were weighting to catch a cab.
A third person who was also injured in the accident said the duo were standing by the police kiosk when the speeding Jaguar jumped signal and hit the Mercedez making it literally fly in the air and hit the victims crushing them against the kiosk.
They were in Kolkata for treatment, the witness said adding “I escaped with minor injuries as there was no barrier (police kiosk) behind me.
The doctors declared the two Bangladeshi nationals “brought dead” after they were rushed to the nearby SSKM Hospital. Parwez and the passengers travelling in the Mercedes suffered minor injuries.
The erring driver has been booked under Section 304 (culpable homicide), 279 (rash driving) and 427 (causing damage) of the Indian Penal Code.
Meanwhile the Deputy High Commission of Bangladesh in Kolkata said they were making arrangements to send the dead bodies to that country after the autopsy was over.
Strongly condemning the “lack of discipline” among the “spoil brats of the rich” members of Kolkata civil society said “this boy could also have been killed had it not been a costly car. The guardians should take care of that point.”
With a larger number of flyovers constructed in the city Kolkata has of late become a hot spot for racing vehicles that hurtle down the empty midnight streets in great speed often leading to fatal accidents.
“Why does it happen with the children of the rich only? This is because they have the impression that they can buy their release after committing any crime. Law should be made stricter and its application even more stringent,” said Anuttama a psychiatrist.
