RAWALPINDI: A pre-school child, who died after being run over by a metro bus while disembarking at Liaquat Bagh bus station, was laid to rest in his native town Nathia Gali on Saturday.

On the other hand, police had arrested the metro bus driver Wajid, station manager Ashiq Hussain and security guard Bilal of Liaquat Bagh Metro Bus Station in connection with the death of a four-year-old child after registration of a case against them.

On Sunday, the arrested persons were produced before the court for remand custody, however, the bus driver was sent to jail while the other two were discharged from the case.

Mohammad Rehan had come along with his mother to his grandparents’ house. On Friday night, he along with his mother and grandmother boarded the metro bus from Chandni Chowk station.

In her statement, the boy’s mother said that she had two sons - Rehan, 4, and Rohan, 1. She said she and her two sons left her parents’ house to visit a spiritual man for treatment. She said as they were disembarking at Liaquat Bagh, Rehan’s foot got caught between the bus station and the gate of the bus.

The victim’s mother said in the FIR that as she turned to pick up her son, the driver, without closing the door, accelerated the bus. When the bus moved, she screamed to catch the attention of the driver and security guard but he was nowhere. “My son fell down on the track and was run over,” she added.

Siam Abbasi, uncle of Rehan, told Dawn that his sister-in-law had been in distress since the tragic incident happened.

He said: “Had the security guard been there and checked the disembarking passengers, Rehan would have been with us now.”

Mohammad Rizwan, father of the boy who taught students online, was also inconsolable since the death of his son.

Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2024