Rangia-Tamulpur-Bhutan road
Students block the Rangia-Tamulpur-Bhutan road in protest. Image credit - Northeast Now

A 13-year old Assam student was killed at Kumarikata while a Bhutanese truck hit her in front of Don Bosco School, Kumarikata in Baksa district on Saturday.

The incident took place on the 127(D) Rangia-Tamulpur-Bhutan international link road at about 7.45 am when the student was moving towards her school riding a bicycle.

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“She was hit by the truck from the front side in front of the Don Bosco School, Kumarikata under Tamulpur police station in Baksa,” said locals.

According to locals, a Bhutanese truck, bearing registration No BP-4A-0548, was moving towards Samdrup Jhankhar of eastern Bhutan.

“The girl was hit by the truck right in front of her school in which she died on the spot,” the eyewitnesses said.

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The victim has been identified as Kritika Pradhan, daughter of Hemo Pradhan of Jogeshpur village under Kumarikata police outpost under Baksa district.

She was a student of Class VI at Don Bosco Shcool.

After the incident, a large number of locals gathered at the spot.

Nipon Gogoi, in-charge of Kumarikata police outpost also rushed to the spot with a police team and took the body in their custody.

After the incident, the environment of Kumatikata turned hot.

Several students from various schools of the locality also gathered at the spot and staged a sit-in demonstration and blockade the Rangia-Tamulpur-Bhutan international link road for 3 hours.

The agitating students demanded the protection of the school students as well as the common people.

They shouted slogans seeking justice to Kritika Pradhan and to compensate the family members of the victim.

The protesters also compelled a Bhutanese ambulance and other Bhutan-registered vehicles from Kumarikata to go back towards Bhutan.

Later, Sujit Burglary, sub-divisional officer (civil) of Tamulpur, Asima Kalita, the sub-divisional police officer of Tamulpur, the officer-in-charge of Tamulpur police station, inspector Asim Bora also rushed to the spot.

After discussions with the civil and police administrations, the protestors withdrew their agitation and opened the road.

It may be mentioned that due to violation of traffic rules, road mishaps take place frequently on the Rangia-Tamulpur-Bhutan road.