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| Two GCW students run over by speeding minibus | | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, June 5: The last day of their exams turned out to be the last day of their lives when two students of Gandhinagar College for Women (GCW) were crushed to death by a recklessly and speedly driven minibus just outside the college premises this morning.
The dead -- Rajni Devi (20), daughter of Pritam Chand, and Avnish Choudhary (20), daughter of Karnail Singh -- were students of B.Sc. Part III.
While Rajni hailed from Dablair in R S Pura, Avnish was resident of Kotli in Arnia.
The tragedy struck at about 11.15 am. The two students had just come out of the campus when a minibus, while trying to escape a traffic police naka, rammed into them, killing them on the spot. It was the last day of their physics and chemistry practicals and they got killed minutes after they left the campus, said GCW principal, Prof Nalini Kohli.
Police sources said Rajni and Avnish were walking by the roadside when the minibus (JK02J/9254), in its attempt to avoid the traffic police naka, came hurtling and ploughed into them.
Leaving the victims lying in a pool of blood, the driver and the conductor fled the spot. The minibus was later seized by police from the accident site. As the news spread at the campus, hundreds of students came out protesting against traffic police and the minibus operators who "swerve on city roads with impunity from law".
The college principal and lecturers also came out. The traffic came to a grinding halt and no vehicle plied on the road till police removed the bodies to the Government Medical College hospital mortuary where post-mortem was conducted on them.
After the families of the dead reached the hospital, the bodies were handed over to them for last rites. The minibus driver was evading arrest. A case under sections 279 and 304-A was registered against him at the Gandhi Nagar police station. Prof Nalini said it was said the students lost their lives due to the negligence of minibus driver.
She said the college lecturers and some students later held a condolence meeting at the campus and observed two minutes silence in the honour of the departed souls.
In a similar incident, a minibus driver had yesterday hit a scooter at Maheshpura Chowk, resulting in serious injuries to the woman, who was driving the two-wheeler, and her two children. All were admitted to the GMC hospital.
In both the incidents, the drivers had fled the spot despite the presence of traffic cops.
It is pertinent to mention here that despite strict orders to drivers to wear khaki uniform, the operator of the minibus s, that run down two students today, was in civil clothes.
Meanwhile, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) workers held a demonstration outside the Gandhinagar College for Women in the afternoon against traffic police which had failed to prevent such mishaps.
After protesting for few minutes, they dispersed peacefully. NCP general secretary Rajesh Gupta, M S Bhatti, Sham Singh, Janak Singh, Ghulam Nabi Shah, SS Rana and Krishan Lal were among those who participated in the protest.
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