Is eight-year-old Aman Khan’s life in any way less important than Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s? The PM’s security claimed another life last week, prompting Indians to doubt if there’ll ever be an end to this.  By denying them passage to hospital, the security personnel have done their duty well, if you could define duty as something that lacks any kind of fine sentiment.

Aman died of loss of blood. He  sustained serious head injuries after falling from a good height at his home. Meanwhile, all the major roads had been barricaded by the security men following PM’s visit to IIT. The repeated pleas of his family to allow them to take the normal route was denied and hence, they had to take a longer route. The little boy was bleeding profusely, and by the time they reached the hospital, he’d lost considerable amount of blood. Later, the doctors said the tragedy could have been averted if he had reached 10 minutes early. Here’s a tragedy that could have been avoided.

This is the second such incident. Last November, a kidney patient died after he was denied treatment at the hospital. An apology from the PM offering condolences to the bereaved followed, and the second tragedy too was followed by an apology. How many more deaths and apologies are in store, I wonder. All of us have experienced being stuck in traffic whenever a VVIP makes a visit. Though annoying, it can be tolerated at least. Here, it’s a question of a life. Why can’t Z+ category people like PM resort to choppers instead of taking the road transport? At least it could help prevent further such incidents.

Should a law be passed to protect the interests (and life) of the common man when subjected to absolute apathy during VVIP visits? Leave your comments.