Three-year-old Lakshmi moved to Delhi from her hometown in Rajasthan’s Ajmer district with her family when she was only eight months old.
Her family moved to the city in hopes of a better future, but on Monday their hopes were cruelly broken after Lakshmi was run over by a school bus as she moved towards a busy road while playing with a plastic bottle. This happened just a day before the National Girl Child Day, reported Times of India.
She was also the poster child for a human rights organisation though she continued to live under a flyover with her father and mother, who are rag-pickers.
The family had already been struck by tragedy a few years ago when Lakshmi’s brother died of pneumonia under the same flyover.
Her heartbroken mother blames herself for the death. “It is my fault. We would have left this place, but had to stay on for my medical treatment,” she told TOI.
The parents had also decided to send her to pre-school from February this year. “We wanted to give Lakshmi an education so she would not end up suffering through life like we have,” said Kedari, the girl's aunt.
(With inputs from Times of India)
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