Nirvaan Banik, the four-and-a-half-year-old boy whose little finger was partially ripped off in an accident on the EM Bypass Rashbehari connector in south Kolkata’s Kasba on Thursday, may not be able to attend school for the remaining part of this academic session, his father said on Friday.
Nirvaan, who underwent a re-implant surgery at Belle Vue Clinic on Thursday to re-join the severed part of the finger, was taken to the operating theatre again on Friday for a review of his condition, said officials of the hospital.
“He seems to be doing well,” said an official.
Police have arrested the driver and the help of the pick-up van whose left door had suddenly been opened while it was standing at a signal, resulting in the accident.
Nirvaan, accompanied by his younger brother and mother, was in an autorickshaw that was trailing right behind the van and slammed into the open door.
The driver and the help have been booked under Section 338 of the Indian Penal Code, which deals with the offence of causing grievous hurt to any person through any rash or negligent act than can endanger human life.
If convicted, they can be sent to jail for up to two years.
“The help should have been careful before suddenly opening the door. There is a basic rule — we check the road behind us before opening any door of our vehicle. A little caution could have averted this accident,” said an officer of Kasba police station.
However, punishing the driver or the help would not help Nirvaan get back to his normal life any time soon.
“It appears he would not be able to attend school this academic session. He played table tennis. It may take him another six months to cope with his injury and get back to normal life. Even after that, we are afraid he will have to live with a lifelong mental scar,” Nirvaan’s father Mithun Banik said.
The child’s schoolteachers are in touch with the family, his father said.
Nirvaan has been slipping in and out of consciousness, said his father. “He is mostly sleeping,” Banik said.
Nirvaan’s two-and-a-halfyear-old brother, who was sitting next to him on the rear seat of the auto while returning home from school, has been constantly asking about his elder brother.
“My younger son has been asking ‘dada kothay (where is my elder brother)’. He does not understand what has happened,” Banik said.
The two kids, along with their mother, were returning home after school like on other days in an autorickshaw. They were on the rear seat. Nirvaan was in the right corner.
The help on a Tata Ace, which was stationary at the signal, had suddenly flung open the vehicle’s left door, without realising that the autorickshaw in which the kids were travelling was trailing right behind.
The autorickshaw collided with the door. Under the impact of the crash, a portion of Nirvaan’s right little finger got ripped off.