Dhanush S

BENGALURU: A 12-year-old schoolboy was killed after an airborne firecracker landed on his head during the Feast of St Sebastian at Our Lady of Lourdes Church on Cambridge Road in Ulsoor, east Bengaluru, on Sunday night.

Ulsoor police said Dhanush S, a resident of Thyagarajanagar, south Bengaluru and a Class 4 student at Delhi Public School, had come to the church to take part in the feast. Bursting of firecrackers was part of the festivities.

The only son of automobile consultant Suresh Kumar, Dhansuh was accompanied by his uncle Anil Kumar and neighbours.

Police said the tragic incident occurred around 9.30pm on the church premises. The boy and his younger sister were with their uncle to watch the bursting of fire crackers. One of the rockets that were lit, soared into the sky, exploded and landed on the boy’s head.

Dhanush collapsed at the spot. He was taken to a private hospital nearby, which referred him to Bowring Hospital , where he was declared brought dead.

Church officials said the event was organized by another party and the church was not responsible directly for the tragedy.

A police officer said the cracker weighed 2kg and the child’s head gave away under its impact. Cops have registered a case of death due to negligence under IPC section 304A against the church management based on a complaint lodged by Suresh Kumar.

Dhanush’s uncle Anil Kumar said they were standing 100 metres away from the place where the firecrackers were being lit. Around 9pm, the church staff started bursting crackers. One of the rockets went up, but fell soon after, landing on the right side of Dhanush’s head and burst,” said Anil.

Mahadevappa, another relative, alleged that the church hadn’t taken any safety measures like arranging for fire tenders or ambulances to take care of emergencies like this. Police were also not deployed near the church premises even though more than 2,000 people had gathered for the festival.

Anil said he has been attending the festival for the last seven years. This was the first time that he took Dhanush and his younger sister with him. Dhanush’s mother is a homemaker.

The boy’s body was handed over to the family after postmortem on Monday

Boy insisted uncle take him to church

According to police, Dhanush’s uncle Anil Kumar did not have any plan to take him to the feast. But the boy saw his uncle getting ready for the feast and insisted that he too should be taken to the festival. Dhanush and his younger sister and a few neighbours came to the church in Anil’s car.

Anil said Dhanush, who was standing to his left side, swapped places with his sister a couple of minutes before the incident. The cracker landed with a thump on his head and the impact was so severe that his skull broke and parts of the brain spilled out.

