NEW DELHI,Jan29,2012: A four-year-old boy had a close shave on Saturday as he was trapped between the doors of the last coach of a Metro train which soon began to move, while his mother lost balance and fell onto the tracks. The boy was pulled away by two security guards in the nick of time. It is not clear yet how the train's sensors failed to detect the boy - a lapse that has been recurring for the past few months, resulting in injuries to passengers.Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) called it a "minor accident" and denied that the boy was trapped.Saturday's incident occurred at the crowded Rajiv Chowk station around 11am. Rajesh Seth, his wife Neerma and son Aditya were waiting for a train to Vaishali on their way home to Indirapuram after an outing. Seth said the three of them tried to board the train at 11.03am and managed to reach the last coach. "There was a lot of rush and when we tried to board the train, my son's foot got trapped between the closing gates. My wife, who was holding Aditya, lost her balance and fell on the tracks when the train started to move," said Rajesh.Two securitymen rescued him at the last moment.Rajiv Chowk is the busiest intersection station, where thousands cross over between the busiest Blue Line (Anand Vihar-Dwarka sector 21) and Yellow Line (Gurgaon-Jahangirpuri). Adding to the rush, the train was the old four-coach one, and passengers expecting a six-coach train scrambled to make it to the last coach.Rajesh says but for two security guards, his wife and son would have been in trouble. "One guard saved my son by pulling him out and, in the process, got injured. The other saved my wife," he said. Aditya complained of a swelling on his foot while his mother received minor scratches, Rajesh added.DMRC denied this version, saying the guards were injured while trying to stop the family from boarding the train. "The family was trying to board the Metro. Since the doors were about to close they were stopped by the security guard," said a DMRC spokesperson. "When the security guard tried to catch the child, he lost balance and fell on the tracks injuring himself."The two guards were identified as Hemant Kumar and Rajesh. Hemant reportedly fractured his knee cap in the incident and was treated at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.A case of negligence has been registered at the Raja Garden police station, additional DCP (crime) Sanjay Bhatia said. The police, however, had a different version altogether. "The family was boarding the train to Vaishali when the doors closed and the child got stuck between the gates, partially inside the coach and partially hanging outside," said an investigating officer. "Two guards saw the child hanging out dangerously and started chasing the moving train to save him. In that effort, one guard injured himself."An eyewitness, who refused to be identified, said the family had separated while waiting for the train, leading to confusion. While Seth boarded the train, mother and child were left to chase the train and the boy fell on the tracks, the eyewitness said.Commuters added that the poor frequency of trains was to blame for the rush. "Passengers wait in hundreds for coaches five and six. But Metro has no announcement on the exact number of coaches entering the platform," said Mridul Chatterjee, who travels to Rajiv Chowk every day.on work. "As such, when a four-coach train pulls in, there is a mad scramble for the last door of the last coach, leading to a stampede-like situation which even the security guards cannot handle."
