‘She was trapped, but none stopped’

It was around 12.35pm on Friday and I was rushing towards Rabindra Sadan in a taxi. Just as my taxi was about to cross the JL Nehru Road flyover, I noticed a woman lying underneath a small goods van towards the left flank of the flyover. I could see her legs sticking out from under the front wheels and a pool of blood had formed. She had obviously been run over and the driver had fled.There was no one around to help the woman who was desperately banging her legs on the road, trying to free herself. But she was trapped.
I got off my taxi and started trying to stop passing vehicles, drawing their attention to the woman. But no one stopped. After about a couple of minutes, a car screeched to a halt. But even before I could approach the driver, he had revved up the engine and driven away. There was still no one around who could help. I kept yelling at passing cars, seeking help. But they didn’t even bother to slow down.
I went down on my knees and tried to take a closer at the woman. She was bleeding profusely from her right ear. Her stomach was trapped beneath the undercarriage even as she was making a last desperate effort to free herself, feebly moving her legs. She was barely conscious and had a few minutes to live.
It was then that I noticed the policemen on guard at the American Center around a hundred yards away. I rushed to them and sought assistance. But they said they were not supposed to leave their post and pointed at a police van parked across the road. I ran to the van. A few policemen and women were seated inside and I told them what had happened. The woman, I told them, was still alive and could be saved if they could move the van and free her. One of the policemen who was fiddling with a wireless set accompanied me to the spot. He bent down and took a close look at the woman. She had gone still. “She seems to be dead,” the policeman told me. I knew he was right but had been left too shaken to react.
Within a couple of minutes, a huge crowd had gathered around the van. People were now walking up to the spot and enquiring. Some were clicking pictures with their cellphone cameras. Only if they had arrived a few minutes earlier the woman might have been saved. Yes, her injuries were serious, but sadly no attempt could be made to revive her. Didn’t she deserve to be rescued from under the van and taken to a hospital? She did, I felt. That she found no help in a city like Kolkata left me stunned. I have never seen my city being so heartless ever before.
Ghosh Chowdhury is a photo journalist with The Times of India