Killer Bluelines' Continued Menace and Beyond....

New Delhi, January 31 2008

10:35am, 24th January 2008, the killer Bluelines had another victim to their name. Munesh Devi, a resident of Sangam Vihar, was on her way to visit a doctor in Sainik Farms when blueline bus No. 34 enroute to M.B. Road crushed her to death right in front of Gate No.1 of Sainik Farms. One of the witnesses present rushed her to the AIIMS Trauma Centre where she was declared ‘brought dead’. As told by her son who filed an FIR at the Malviya Nagar Police Station, the bus driver and bus had been taken into custody. But the driver has been released on bail under chargesheet 279/304A of the IPC (Indian Penal Code).

On 1st February, the Supreme Court expressed serious concern over the spate of accidents caused by Blueline buses in the Capital resulting in the loss of many lives. According to data given to the Court by the Delhi Government, as many as 488 persons have succumbed to such bus accidents in the past three years. The Delhi High Court had earlier issued directions to the Delhi Government to phase out Blueline buses in the city, withdraw licences of faulty drivers, commence criminal proceedings against drivers who were found unfit, impose hefty penalties on the owners of the vehicles and to set guidelines for all bus operators including DTC.

With all these orders coming in, Delhi’s Transport Minister Haroon Yusuf had ordered all Blueline buses to undergo a fitness check- up and install speed governors. He had also said that new DTC buses would be launched shortly. But one still finds Blueline buses running in a very bad condition and the speed governors are non existent. The only redeeming feature is the launching of the new High Capacity Bus Service which also seems to give the Delhi Roads a face lift. But what remains to be seen is the whole functioning and safety of the new bus corridor for the HCBS.
Moreover, the citizens cannot rely just on the government for their safety as Delhi Chief Minister, Smt Shiela Dikshit said in her response to the continuing danger of bluelines, that the “People should take care while moving on the roads.”
The whole debate regarding the safety of buses will continue until something drastic is done. But lets go beyond that. What happens to the victim’s family after the accident and the whole struggle that the family has to go through to get justice? Munesh Devi’s son, Sarvesh, got his mother’s body from the AIIMS Trauma Centre a day after the accident. He got a copy of the FIR after being pushed a lot by the Police. The AIIMS Trauma Centre is taking their own sweet time to prepare the post mortem report and instead of the stipulated 2-3days, they asked for a week. Its already been a week and now the hospital says it needs another week. As Sarvesh discloses, the hospital said that the doctor is not present and so no report can be prepared for another week.
Is the loss not enough that the hospitals and other officials create further anxiety by giving a ‘classic run around’ for every small document that needs to be collected by the family.

Another reason for the family’s grief is that the bus driver has been released on bail even though his bus is still in police’s custody. The son speaks out, “such a gruesome act of crime should not be made a bailable offence. It definitely deserves a stricter approach. If the punishment is so lenient then we cannot expect the bus drivers to mend their ways. They will continue on the same track of carelessness and indifference. ”

The law regarding this offence must be looked at in detail and all he three working bodies of the Constitution must awaken to the present state of affairs. The police and hospital officials need to rise to the fact that the family needs some support and would be best provided if they would mend their lackadaisical ways.