New Delhi: In one more instance of callousness in the national capital, two young men, brutally beaten up, lay by the roadside, bleeding, pleading for help… For more than half-an-hour no one heeded their calls. One man succumbed due to excessive bleeding.
Perhaps his life could have been saved if someone had heeded their calls….
The two young men from Chittaranjan Park in south Delhi were brutally beaten near a roadside eatery by two men in the early hours of dawn Monday, resulting in the death of one of them.
The two, Shailaj Roy and Siddharth Roy, had driven down to a makeshift stall selling paranthas near a gurudwara on the Govindpuri main road at around 4 a.m. for a bite.
Chetan, a college dropout, and Vijay, a BPO employee, were already present there.
When the staff of the eatery was about to serve the two newcomers with paranthas, a dispute broke out between them over who should be served first. It soon snowballed into a clash.
Even though a policeman on patrol pacified them, the quarrel broke out again after some time and turned physical. Chetan and Vijay overpowered Shailaj and Siddharth, and hit them with sticks and sharp-edged objects, and fled the spot.
Shailaj Roy, a B.Tech graduate from Siliguri in West Bengal, and Sidharth Roy, a fashion designer, both 27, lay bleeding and pleaded for help from bystanders.
The area has three-four makeshift eateries and at that early hour there were around 10-15 people present, including the staff of the eatery.
According to friends and relatives of the two men, none of those present, including the staff of the eatery, tried to help the duo who used to frequent the shop.
After half and hour, one passer-by informed the Police Control Room van and left. “I am shocked… even though 10 to 15 people, including the parantha shop staff, local hawkers and passers-by were around no one came forward to help. For half an hour, both of them were pleading for help but no one stepped forward to even call the police,” a friend of Siddharth Roy told. “We received a call at about 4.45 a.m. that two people (Shailaj and Siddharth) were found lying in unconscious condition on the road,” said a senior police officer.
They were rushed to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) trauma centre where doctors declared Shailaj dead. He had received a severe blow on the head and bled to death. Siddharth was admitted to hospital and is undergoing treatment for head injuries. “After half-an-hour, a passer-by informed the PCR van which took them to a nearby hospital. Shailaj had a severe head injury and lost a lot of blood, and he was declared brought dead. If anyone of the passers-by had helped them to reach hospital on time, his life could have been saved,” Siddharth’s friend added.
This was another instance of a murderous assault over a trifle.
An analysis of Delhi Police 2010 statistics shows that murders have been committed over minor issues like taking water at community taps, objecting to urinating in front of someone’s house, and over bursting fire crackers at a marriage party.
For example in north Delhi a software professional, Himanshu Batra was shot dead by Surya Prakash after he accidentally knocked down a plate of chicken tikka Prakash was carrying. (IANS)