The decision of a quick-thinking driver to drop the last student a few metres before the designated stop ensured that the child escaped unhurt when the school bus was vandalised minutes later during Tuesday's Seelampur violence.
According to Chandrashekhar, transport manager of the Arwachin Bharti Bhawan Senior Secondary School, Vivek Vihar, there were 25-30 students in the bus to be dropped off at Seelampur and Jaffrabad.
Only one student was in the bus when a stone came flying towards its windshield.
"The stone was not hurled by the protesters but apparently came from some house located in Jaffrabad. The driver anticipated that the situation might turn tense and called up parents of the student who was inside the bus," Chandrashekhar told PTI.
He said the bus was still a few metres away from the stand where the child was usually dropped but the driver decided to call the parents a few metres before from the designated stop.
After the child was safely handed over to the parents, the driver took a U-turn to return to Vivek Vihar which is when protesters surrounded the bus and hurled stones, breaking its windshield, rear glass and the emergency window glass, he said.
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"The bus was a new one and was added to the school's fleet of buses two years ago. The windows had grills which ensured that the glasses did not break immediately when stones were hurled, so the damage was minimised," he added.
The driver and the helper escaped unhurt and managed to take the bus back to the school, he said.