Lost to security: Aggrieved mom writes to Sonia

A distraught woman, whose young son bled to death after he allegedly could not be taken to hospital in time due to security curbs during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to the city on July 3, has asked UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to ensure that a similar fate does not visit anyone else in the future.

“No mother should go through the same tragedy,” a disconsolate Usha Sharma told TOI on Friday after she wrote a letter to Sonia on July 6, and sought a compensation of Rs 10 lakh for her son’s death.

Usha and her husband Tahadud Hussain Khan, an Ordnance Equipment Factory (OEF) employee, alleged that they were stopped from taking their Aman (8), who got serious head injuries in a mishap, to the hospital by the police who had barricaded all major city roads for the PM’s visit to IIT.

In November 2009, a kidney patient in Ambala, S P Verma’s family had alleged that he died as their vehicle was delayed on way to Chandigarh’s PGIMER due to PM’s security cover. PM was at PGIMER to attend convocation.

In the letter to Sonia, Usha has requested her to “make sure that security forces do not stop the injured from being taken to hospitals on grounds of VIP duty… Such an incident should not happen to anyone else. If there’s a medical emergency, people should be allowed to go for treatment.”

Aman’s father said, “All our requests fell on deaf ears. It took us over 45 minutes for a five-minute drive to the hospital. By the time we reached the hospital, our Aman had bled to death,” he said and claimed a fax has been sent to the PM drawing his attention to the incident. Usha added, “The doctors told us Aman’s life could have been saved had we reached the hospital 10 minutes earlier.”

Aman, a student of Class II, was critically wounded when a steel gate fell on his head while playing near some under-construction sewer lines in front of his Shyamnagar house on July 3.