New Delhi: Like most 10-year-olds, Rishi Garg was restlessly looking forward to Diwali evening so he could burst firecrackers. However, the evening that was supposed to be full of delight and light turned tragic quickly after a hand-held firecracker burnt Rishi’s chest, leading to his death.
Police said they got information around 10.50pm on Nov 8 from a “hospital that a child was brought dead due to burn injuries caused by a firecracker.
It had huge letters in Chinese and a tiny logo that said “green fireworks”. Instead, they, along with police officers, threatened us and refused to let me take him to a different hospital,” he said. “If the sale of only green fireworks were allowed, why was this fake product available in the market?” asked Ravi Kumar, a friend of Rishi’s father. The joy brought by the festival of lights has been extinguished forever for this family,” Kumar said.
A day after the incident, the firecracker’s cover — which shows a little boy grinning widely — lay discarded outside his house in northwest Delhi’s Narela. It had no certification number or a QR code. Rishi was the youngest of three brothers. He was lighting a flower-pot firecracker just outside his house when he suffered a deep injury on his chest. The boy collapsed instantly, after which relatives rushed him to a hospital. Doctors declared him dead. His brother, Dhruv, alleged negligence by the hospital. “Rishi was breathing when we reached the hospital but the doctors didn’t pay proper attention to him. Rishi’s body was also allegedly sent to another hospital in Jahangirpuri for a post-mortem examination without informing the family. Back in Narela, local people questioned govt’s regulatory measures on firecrackers. Neighbours gathered on the veranda of Rishi’s house Monday. His mother, Anjali, however, just stared ahead and occasionally wiped her tears. Dhruv lamented that he should not have bought the firecrackers. “Every Diwali from now will remind them of this incident. The body has been sent for post-mortem.”
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