Kolkata: Joyride on dad’s scooter ends in tragedy on tracks

KOLKATA: A 16-year-old girl who had sneaked out for a ride on her father’s new scooterette on Sunday afternoon died a horrific death after being run over by a train. Khushboo Khatun had illegally tried to cross the tracks at Topsia through a small gap between two iron posts, while riding the scooterette, and was hit by a speeding train when she slipped and fell.
Khatun, who had dropped out of school after Class V, was flung off the two-wheeler and was left bleeding from the head and spine as the train sped away. By the time locals took her to Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital, she was declared dead.
“I had no clue that she was gone with the scooterette while I was sleeping. She had never ridden one by herself. Had I known what she was up to, I would never have let her go,” said Khatun’s father Md Yusuf.
She had initially driven around her home in Entally’s Auddybagan, but after a few locals threatened to call her parents, she went to the adjacent neighbourhood across the railway tracks at Ram Mohan Bera Lane. The accident happened around 4pm when she was returning home the same way.
“This part of the tracks was blocked with iron poles till a few months ago. But recently some locals removed them to make it an illegal level crossing. The girl was trying to cross when she lost control and the vehicle fell over. That is when the train ran her over,” a local said.
A Sealdah GRP officer, however, said they were yet to be informed about the incident by either the train guard or the driver. Cops at Topsia police station said they were investigating if someone was accompanying Khatun on Sunday.