In Karnataka, a 20-year-old woman lost her life after she leaped off a moving bus since there was no designated stop near her college. It was reported that the bus conductor denied her request to halt the bus at the college and instead instructed her to jump off. The young woman was apparently upset that she could not attend her classes. The incident sparked protests in the area.
On Wednesday evening, a 20-year-old female engineering student named Shweta Shanthappanavar, hailing from Holalu village in Huvina Hadagali taluk in Vijayanagara district, passed away at a hospital in Davanagere due to head injuries sustained from jumping off a bus. Shweta had repeatedly asked the bus crew to stop near her college but to no avail. The incident occurred around 320km away from Bengaluru.
She was enrolled in her first semester at the Government Engineering College in Huligudda, which is six kilometers from Hadagali, where she was lodging in a hostel. In accordance with the FIR, Shweta traveled to her college by boarding a KSRTC Vijayanagara-Ranebennur bus at Hadagali. She allegedly asked the driver and conductor to stop the bus near her institution when it approached the college at approximately 12.45 p.m., but they apparently refused.
It is reported that they told her to “jump out” if she wanted to get off the bus. The girl, who was upset and irritated that she would miss her lessons, leaped out of the bus as it was driving by the campus only to land with serious head injuries. She passed away from her wounds on Wednesday at about 5 o’clock at a private hospital in Davanagere.
The youngster was brought to a government hospital in Hadagali before being transferred to a private facility in Davanagere. Following the tragedy, students organized a demonstration, blaming the bus crew for Shweta’s demise and calling for their prosecution.
Police struggled to calm the students down. The students withdrew their protest when Tahsildar K Sharanamma provided promises. The bus involved in the incident belongs to Haveri, according to Chalapathy, KSRTC depot manager in Hadagali, and they have issued a complaint to their counterparts.