Stay off these killer Mumbai roads

Little did the Dirwadkars think that their world would come crashing down when they saw their six-year-old daughter, Siddhi, walk out of their home at Jogeshwari (E) to join her friends for a game at a school ground nearby on March 31.

The kindergartener from Anusuya Niwas chawl near Pant Samarth School at Jogeshwari (E) was run over while at play by a 17-year-old boy who was backing up his father’s SUV at the school ground.

The Meghwadi police arrested the boy for causing death due negligence. After being produced before court, he was released on a bail bond of Rs3,000 in cash.

“Around 11.30am on Saturday, Siddhi was playing with other children on the school ground near her house. There was a Qualis parked there and the ground was being decorated on the occasion of Ram Navami,” said an officer from the Meghwadi police station. Organisers of the festivities asked the boy, whose father was not present at home, to take out the SUV to make way for decorations. The 17-year-old didn’t think twice before heading home and grabbing the vehicle’s key. “He reversed the SUV without realising that the girl was right behind it. Its rear wheel ran over her stomach,” said the officer.

The boy, though, had the presence of mind to rush her to a nearby hospital with the help of bystanders. Siddhi was later shifted to the Cooper Hospital, but she was declared dead there. The boy will soon be sent to the Dongri remand home as per the court order, said the police officer.