DUBAI:A six-year-old Indian boy died after he was forgotten in a bus for several hours in Dubai on Saturday. The child, identified as Mohamed Farhan Faisal from the south Indian state of Kerala, was a pupil at an Islamic centre in Al Quoz. According to family sources, he had dozed off after boarding the bus from Karama. He was left behind after all the other students disembarked outside the centre at 8am.

The Dubai Police told Khaleej Times they were notified about the tragedy at 3pm. A top official from the centre said he was found as the driver took the bus out to drop the students back home.

The police said the body was shifted to the forensic department at 6pm for an autopsy.

The official cause of death hadn't been declared at the time of going to press. The mortal remains will be handed over to the family after all legal and administrative procedures have been completed.

The boy was the youngest of three children. He had joined the centre earlier this year. Hailing from the coastal town of Muzhappilangad in Kannur district, his parents are long-time residents of Dubai and the family resides in Karama. His father Faisal runs multiple businesses in Dubai and Kerala.

"I had met the family during a get-together just last week. He was such a bright boy. His parents are in a state of shock," said a close family member, who requested not to be named.

The police were still on the campus when Khaleej Times visited the centre in the evening. Parents who were picking their children up from the centre expressed shock over the tragedy. "I don't know many details, but it's very sad to hear. I am praying for his parents and family," one womanmother said.

The General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowments, which oversees all Quran centres in Dubai, offered its condolences to the boy's family. "We are working with the Dubai Police to investigate the tragic incident," it said.

courtesy: khaleejtimes.com

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New Delhi (PTI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in the state, sources said on Sunday.

The petition names the Election Commission (EC) and the chief electoral officer of West Bengal as respondents. It was filed before the apex court on January 28, the sources said.

Banerjee arrived in Delhi on Sunday. She is scheduled to meet Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar at 4 pm on Monday to discuss the ongoing SIR exercise in West Bengal. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo would be accompanied by a delegation of party leaders.

She is also likely to meet party MPs in the Parliament House on Monday.

Talking to reporters at the Kolkata airport before leaving for the national capital, Banerjee claimed that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre is resorting to the SIR exercise because it is certain of its imminent defeat in the West Bengal Assembly polls, due in a few months, and said the saffron party should contest the election politically and democratically.

The West Bengal chief minister has written several letters to the CEC, raising concerns over the conduct of the exercise.

In her most recent letter to the CEC on January 31, she alleged that the methodology and approach of the exercise went beyond the provisions of the Representation of the People Act and the relevant rules, causing "immense inconvenience and agony" to citizens.

Earlier, TMC leaders, including Rajya Sabha MPs Derek O'Brien and Dola Sen, had moved the apex court, challenging certain aspects of how the SIR is being carried out in West Bengal.