Police register case in boy's death after Prez office steps in

Three months after a boy drowned when he allegedly slipped through a missing slab in a bridge on Sutlej, Punjab Police today booked a construction company on charges of negligence after President Pranab Mukherjee's office stepped in following a plea from the victim's kin.
The President's Secretariat asked the state government to take appropriate action and send a report to it after the family of 12-year-old Maan Singh wrote to the President alleging that police had refuse to register a case, a state government official said here.
Maan Singh, a resident of Sham Nagar, died after falling into the Sutlej through a gap in the footpath of the bridge on May 19, he added.

The boy's father Mohan Singh Namdhari held the company engaged in the repair work of the bridge responsible for the death of his son, the official said, adding that the President's office also asked the state to report further developments in the case.
The family had been alleging that the hole in the bridge's footpath was due to a missing slab and there was neither any safety barricade around it nor any warning-pointer or light by which it could be noticed.
The boy had gone to River Sutlej with his mother Rajinder Kaur to immerse religious 'samagri' (material) in the river.