Balcony crashes in Faridabad, 3 siblings die

GURGAON: Three siblings - aged between 7 and 10 - were crushed to death after the balcony of their rented house gave way on Friday evening. Muskan (8), Adil (6) and Akash (10) were playing outside their house around 6.30pm when the balcony came crashing down on them in Faridabad's Seekri village. Neighbours rushed the three to a nearby hospital, where they were declared dead on arrival.
Their father Dharmendra, who works with a private company, and mother Sita, who runs a food cart, were away at work when the balcony collapsed.The couple have two more children, who were at a distance and escaped unhurt.
Neighbours, who were the first rescuers, said the building was in dire need of repairs and the iron structures supporting the balcony had rusted too with time.
"The three kids were playing right under the balcony. We heard a crashing sound and rushed out of home to see what had happened. We found that the balcony had collapsed. When we came to know that Dharmendra's three kids were playing nearby, we formed groups to rescue them from under the rubble," a villager said.
Another resident said the recent rain had weakened the structure all the more. "The balcony, anyway, should have undergone repairs long ago. All the iron railings supporting it had rusted. They could not bear the weight of the structure and gave way," he added.
Dharmendra and his family have been living in the house on rent for the past three years. He said he had complained to his landlord, Rakesh, about the dilapidated condition of the entire building a number of times, but to no avail.
"He would keep delaying the repair work on some pretext or the other. We would not have had to face this tragedy had he heeded our warnings," said the father, who lodged a complaint against his landlord at Sector 58 police station.
The bodies of the three kids were sent to the mortuary of Badshah Khan Hospital for an autopsy. Following Dharmendra's complaint to ASI Jaswinder Singh, a case was registered against Rakesh under Section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the BNS.