A Class IV student died after his head hit an object when he leaned out of a broken window of his allegedly overcrowded school bus in Ghaziabad on Wednesday.

The mother of Anurag Bharadwaj, 11, alleged that the driver of the bus, with whom she had had an argument in the morning for carrying more children than the seating capacity, deliberately swerved towards an electric pole when the child had put his head out of the window.

The authorities of Dayawati Modi Public School said Anurag had leaned out of the window to vomit when his head hit the open gate of a building.

Om Veer, the driver, has been arrested while school principal Netrapal Singh is being questioned over allegations of inaction on complaints about poor upkeep of the bus and rash driving.

Anurag’s mother Neha Bharadwaj complained to police that Om Veer, the driver, had deliberately killed her son. “I had argued with the driver in the morning over ferrying more children than the number of seats, which was forcing kids to stand or lean out of windows. I have come to know that when my son leaned out, the driver swerved as he knew there was an electric pole on Hapur Road,” she told reporters.

Anurag’s father Nitin Bharadwaj said: “There were broken glass panes in the windows and less seats than the number of occupants. Despite complaints to the school management the windows were not repaired. The management had also been informed in the past about rash driving. The driver abandoned the bus and ran away instead of taking the child to hospital.”

Iraj Raja, superintendent of police of Ghaziabad rural, said: “We have taken the driver into custody and are interrogating the principal. The owner of the bus has been detained.”
Netrapal Singh, the principal, said before he was taken for questioning: “We took the child to a hospital as soon as we came to know about the accident. It is a sad incident.”