A two-and-a-half-year-old boy was killed when he fell into a pot containing boiling sugar syrup outside a sweet shop in east Delhi’s Trilokpuri on Tuesday evening.
The boy, who was in his mother’s arms, fell over after an e-rickshaw hit the woman from behind.
The woman tried to save her son but suffered burns to her hand in the process. Both were rushed to Lal Bahadur Hospital and from there to Safdarjung Hospital where the boy Dev died during treatment. His mother Pinki was treated for the injuries and discharged.
The e-rickshaw driver fled from the spot immediately after the accident, leaving the vehicle behind. Police said they identified him after much difficulty but have been unable to arrest him.A senior police officer told Deccan Herald that the boiling pot and the stove it was placed on were kept on the pavement by the sweet shop owner, thus encroaching upon public space.
The shopkeeper and his employees too fled from the spot after pulling down the shutters of the shop.
Pinki, the wife of a bicycle mechanic, was out with her son in her arms around 4 pm on Tuesday to buy milk from the nearby market in 26-Block Chowk. As she was walking past the sweet shop, the e-rickshaw hit her from behind because of which she lost her balance and her son fell from her arms directly into the large pot. Sugar syrup was being prepared in the pot for making jalebis.
“Pinki cried out to the sweet shop employees to help her rescue Dev but everyone turned a blind eye. Pinki then tried to save him all by herself and burnt her hands in the process. Dev was charred and doctors said he had suffered over 80 per cent burns,” said the victim’s uncle Harish Kumar.
Dev’s family and neighbours protested outside Mayur Vihar police station on Wednesday and demanded the immediate arrest of the errant driver and the sweet shop owner. Police have registered a case against the driver.
