KSRTC clarifies on video where woman lost hand, says TN-registered lorry caused accident

BENGALURU: A disturbing video of a woman writhing in pain after her right hand was amputated, and her blood-soaked clothes has been circulating on social media for the last couple of days, claiming that her arm was cut off while boarding a bus through the window in an overcrowded bus from Hullenahalli in Mandya district, after the state government’s free bus ride, ‘Shakti’ scheme for women, was launched.

After it went viral on social media, the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) issued a statement that the incident was not due to the Shakti scheme, but due to an accident involving one of its buses and a Tamil Nadu-registered lorry.

The injured woman was identified as Shanta Kumari, whose right hand was severed, and another passenger, Rajamma, sustained severe injuries in the right hand. The injured were admitted to the hospital. An FIR has been registered against the lorry driver at Biligere police station, the KSRTC clarified.

The government alleged that some opposition members are circulating sensitive videos with false claims to create panic among female passengers in the state. “These are anti-Congress accounts trying to project a negative image of Shakti scheme”, the government said.

Later, the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) released a statement over the incident that took place near Hullahalli in Nanjangud taluk of Mysuru district.

The KSRTC statement said that a week ago, on June 18, a bus belonging to the Chamarajanagar depot was plying from Nanjangud to T Narsipur when a speeding Tamil Nadu-registered lorry, coming from the opposite direction, hit the hit the rear right window of the bus and the women passengers who were sitting in the seats near the windows were seriously injured. “There KSRTC bus drivers are not at fault. The officials of the corporation inspected the incident site, and primary treatment was given at Nanjanagud government hospital. They are now undergoing treatment at Apollo Hospital in Mysuru”, it said. The corporation said that it will make arrangements for better treatment and bear the entire expenditure of medical treatment.