Bengal: Woman dies en route to hospital after ambulances deny service due to 'bad road condition'
Kolkata/Malda (WB) (PTI): A 25-year-old woman died while being taken to a rural hospital on a charpoy by her family after ambulances and local vehicles denied service due to the poor condition of a road connecting her village in West Bengal's Malda district with the medical establishment, officials said on Saturday.
The incident took place when the family members of Mamuni Roy, who had been ill for a few days, were taking her on a charpoy (cot) from her village Maldanga to Modipukur rural hospital, around four-and-half-km away, in Bamangola area on Friday.
Her husband Kartik Roy claimed they had to carry her to the rural hospital on the cot as no ambulance or any local vehicle was willing to risk the perilous journey due to the poor condition of the road.
"We tried to take her to the hospital on a cot but she died on the way," he said.
Bamangola Block Development Officer (BDO) Raju Kundu told PTI, "The woman was ill for the last few days and was being taken to the hospital but she died on the way."
"The road had been 'kuccha' (unpaved) for a long time. Six to seven months ago, we repaired the road and have plans to lay a tar road. We have sent the proposal to higher authorities for laying bitumen and are awaiting permission," he said.
A local BJP leader alleged that the administration has failed to take any action to improve the road condition, while the TMC said the matter required a probe and asserted that the incident does not prove that there has not been any development in the area.
The incident echoed similar tragedies in Jalpaiguri and Kaliaganj in recent months where family members had to carry the bodies of their family members after ambulances demanded hefty sums.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Gurugram Police arrest BJP Yuva Morcha member for spreading fake murder story on social media
New Delhi: Gurugram Police have arrested BJP Yuva Morcha member Hariom Mishra, for allegedly spreading a fabricated and communally sensitive story on social media about the murder of a college student in Gurugram.
Mishra who is also known as Shaurya Mishra had shared a collage of four photographs on his X handle earlier this month. He claimed that a 24-year-old college student, identified as Nikita Agarwal, had been murdered by her classmate Arif Khan in Gurugram. In the post, he alleged that the woman was blackmailed, forced into prostitution, gangraped, and eventually killed. He also claimed that Arif dumped her body in a forest. The claims were presented as being based on police sources.
The post went viral and garnering over 1.5 lakh views, and was amplified by several right-wing social media handles across X, Facebook and Instagram. A verification of the claims revealed that no such incident had taken place in Gurugram. A search of credible news reports showed no record of any such murder. The police said this news would have inevitably attracted media attention if it were true.
On December 11, Gurugram Police publicly refuted the claims through their official X handle. They stated that the information which was being circulated was completely false. The police warned that legal action would be taken against those spreading misinformation. Despite the warning, Mishra neither deleted the post nor issued any clarification.
Police in Gurugram confirmed Mishra's arrest on December 16. The police said a FIR was filed after he continued to spread false information about the alleged murder of a Hindu woman by Muslim man. Police said Mishra, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Kaushambi district, is now being investigated.
Gurugram Police spokesperson Sandeep Singh told The Print that the accused had deliberately misrepresented facts and used objectionable content to spread hatred along religious lines. “Such posts can create serious disturbances in society, and the police take these matters very seriously,” he said.
A reverse image search conducted by fact-checkers at Alt News, revealed that the photographs used in the viral post were unrelated to the claims, while two of the images were traced to a Pinterest account belonging to influencer Maulik Chopra and another image was sourced from an Instagram post by influencer Shivam Thakur featuring a woman named Deepanshi Rawat. The fourth image was found on an unrelated Instagram page. The images depicted different individuals and had no connection to any crime.
Police said they are also investigating Mishra’s motive behind sharing the false and provocative content.
