BANGALORE: Three Mount Carmel College girls were injured after a car driven by their chemistry professor and student welfare officer hit them in front of the college gate on Wednesday morning.
One of the girls suffered serious injuries with three fractures on her right thigh. Another girl was hospitalized and discharged later in the day, while the third injured was treated as an outpatient at a nearby hospital.
The accident occurred on the narrow stretch that branches off from Palace Road and leads to the college gate.
Professor Charmaine Jerome told police that she was taken unawares by the sudden movement of a vehicle behind her Santro and, in the shock, ended up pressing the accelerator, sending the four-wheeler lunging forward. The car swerved to the right, hit the three girls and rammed a wall before stopping.
Shreya Patil, a first-year PU student and one of the injured, told the accident occurred around 8.20am. “A lot of students were on the road, and we heard them screaming. By the time we turned around to see what happened, the car knocked us down, and its side hit me,” said Shreya, who was treated as an outpatient at a hospital.
Her classmate Raagi was trapped between the car and the wall. Anupama, a first-year BBM student, was also injured. Shreya said Raagi could be pulled out only after the car backed up. “We were rushed to Jain Hospital in another car,” she said.
Raagi’s father Saggere Ramaswamy, a photojournalist, said he dropped his daughter and Shreya to college in the morning and left for his office on Infantry Road. On the way, he got a call from the college informing him about the accident.
He said: “She has three fractures on her right thigh. She was shifted from Jain Hospital to Baptist Hospital by afternoon. Doctors said her blood pressure is low and she will have to undergo a surgery after it stabilizes,” he said.
The professor has been booked under Section 337 of IPC for causing hurt by committing an act endangering life or personal safety of others and under Section 279 of IPC for rash driving on a public way.
~ TOI
