The Delhi police on Thursday arrested a milk deliveryman for a hit-and-run accident in Subhash Nagar, west Delhi, that led to the death of a pedestrian, identified as Matibool. The victim worked as a e-rickshaw driver and a security guard in the city to support his family living in West Bengal’s Uttar Dinajpur.
The police identified the milk deliveryman as Rajesh, who was driving the tempo that hit the victim. Rajesh hit Matibool with his tempo and then drove off without helping him.
In the 30 minutes that it took a friend to spot Matibool and run for help, 140 cars, 82 three-wheelers, 181 motorcyclists and 45 pedestrians passed the dying man without coming to his aid. Among the vehicles that passed the heavily injured man was a PCR van. The recording also showed a rickshaw-puller coming near him and then taking away his phone. The police clarified that the PCR van, which was among the vehicles that went past the victim without stopping, was rushing to attend to a distress call. “Very inhuman hit and run case. A security guard was hit by a tempo & fell on the side of road, driver fled from spot,” said joint commissioner of police Deependra Pathak. Rajesh had stopped the vehicle and checked the state of the victim, preferred to flee from the spot, leaving the injured man to die on the spot. The hit-and-run led to outrage online that was resonated in his living in Uttar Dinajpur-based family’s response as well. Matibool’s family was appalled at the response of a “heartless city” where he was earning his livelihood.
“The television channels have been running the shots all day. I could not watch beyond a point. The sight of my son meeting a tragic end will haunt me for ever,” Matibool’s father Bashiruddin said as he wiped his tears.
Bashiruddin is disabled and cannot work. Matibool, the only earning member of the family, had migrated to the capital a decade ago. He has left behind a family that also includes his wife and four children.
“We have booked the driver under Sections 279 and 304 A for causing death by negligence,” said the police.
