Six Kanwar Yatra pilgrims electrocuted to death in Meerut

Six Kanwar Yatra pilgrims, including three minors, were electrocuted to death in Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh on Saturday evening, PTI reported.

The tragedy on Saturday took place near Rauli Chauhan village of Meerut when the pilgrims were returning home. A music system mounted on their vehicle came in contact with a high-tension power line, said Senior Superintendent of Police Rohit Singh.

The deceased were identified as Prashant Saini, Himanshu Saini, Mahendra Saini, Lakhmi, Manish, and Lakshya.

District Magistrate Deepak Meena had told reporters that 10 pilgrims were hit by the electrocution. One person is under observation at a hospital and three have recovered.

During the annual Kanwar Yatra pilgrimage, devotees of the Hindu deity Shiva collect water from the rivers and offer it at temples in their states. The devotees, called Kanwariyas, cover hundreds of kilometres on foot.

After the incident on Saturday, the villagers blocked roads to protest against the power department for allegedly neglecting the wire that was hanging low, reported NDTV.

The villagers also claimed that a junior engineer with the power department had assured them that the high voltage transmission line had been shut to facilitate the passage of the Kanwar Yatra pilgrims, according to The Indian Express.

“A total of 16 people from the village, including me, had gone on the truck to Haridwar and waited for nearly one hour outside the road to our village for the high voltage overhead transmission lines to go off,” Rohtas Saini, who was among those injured, told The Indian Express. “When assured of a shutdown, we took the vehicle to the road to our village. Within 200 meters on the narrow road, the vehicle got electrocuted. None could sense what had suddenly happened. Our body was shaking.”

An official at the power department, however, claimed that the villagers had not requested a power shutdown.

“We are awaiting for a report from our committee,” Anurag Agarwal, the chief engineer of the Power Transmission Corporation, West UP unit, said, according to The Indian Express. “Punitive action will be taken against those found guilty.”

In another development, six Kanwariyas were injured on Saturday in two separate accidents in Delhi, according to PTI.

A 38-year-old had to be hospitalised with a head injury after a taxi hit him on the Vasant Vihar flyover in the early hours of Saturday.

In the second incident, five persons suffered injuries after a speaker installed on their vehicle hit a height barrier. The vehicle did not take the route designated for the pilgrims and instead entered the Wazirabad Road-Gokulpuri Chowk-Durgapuri Chowk stretch, the police told PTI.

The annual pilgrimage starts on the first day of the Hindu month of Shravan. Security measures are often stepped up as several incidents of violence have been reported during this time.

Also read: Kanwariya violence is not a new law and order problem. It represents an old social pathology