6 students killed in Haryana school bus crash, Principal and drunk driver arrested

Three people including the principal, the private bus driver, and secretary of the school have been arrested in connection with the Haryana road accident that killed six children in Mahendragarh. 

The incident occurred on Thursday around 8:30 am near Unhani village in Kanina when the private bus of GL Public School was transporting 40 children to the school. 

The bus overturned in Haryana's Mahendragarh, killing six children before which the driver allegedly jumped out of the bus.

The medical test conducted on the driver has confirmed that alcohol was present in his bloodstream, an official said.

Officials said fourteen of the students who were hospitalised after the accident have been discharged but three are critical.

Students from Class 4 to 10 were going to GL Public School on Thursday when the bus carrying them rammed into a tree and overturned. 

The documents of the bus showed it belonged to the school and its fitness certificate had expired six years ago, in 2018. A state road transport official has also been suspended in the case.

"A case has been registered under sections of the Indian Penal Code dealing with culpable homicide not amounting to murder and others. Sections of the Motor Vehicle Act have also been applied because the fitness certificate was not valid. The driver, Dharmendra, the principal, Dipti, and a staff member, Hoshiyar Singh, who was a secretary and looked after the buses and other such matters, have been arrested,” Deputy Superintendent of Police Mahendra Rana was quoted as saying by Hindustan times.

"A medical test has confirmed that alcohol was present in the driver's bloodstream," Rana added.
State Education Minister Seema Trikha said an inquiry is being conducted to establish why classes were being held in the school on Eid, which is a holiday. 

"The school should not have been open today. A show-cause notice has been issued and, apart from that, we have taken self-affidavits from private schools. The schools will have to provide an affidavit stating that transport vehicles used by them are following the transport rules," she said.