On Thursday evening, a four-year-old girl was killed and six others injured when Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament and actor Hema Malini’s speeding Mercedes crashed into an Alto, near Dausa in Rajasthan. Malini also sustained some injuries and had to get stitches on the forehead at the Fortis hospital in Jaipur where she was rushed quickly.

The injured included another child, the dead girl's six-year-old brother, who sustained fractures in both legs and was receiving treatment in the Intensive Care Unit at Jaipur’s SMS hospital. The father of the children, who has filed a First Information Report against Malini’s driver Mahesh Thakur, recounted that he could not spot Malini’s speeding car before it came in and crashed into their Alto. “There was a car ahead of my car which also passed through," he was quoted as saying by NDTV. "And suddenly, I don't know from where this car came in and rammed us. After that I don't know what happened."

Meanwhile a senior police official reportedly confirmed that Malini’s car was speeding and that it drove over the divider. But, he added, that the driver of the Alto may not have been alert on the road while entering the section of highway where the incident occurred.

Even as the Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje tweeted that efforts were on to provide immediate relief and medical care for the victims, social media brewed up a storm claiming that actress’ injuries were being given more importance over the four-year-old girl who died on the spot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not only that, many were of the opinion that the politician should not have left the injured in the Alto to be taken to SMS hospital in Dausa while she, her co-passenger and the driver of the Mercedes were rescued and rushed to the Fortis hospital in Jaipur by a doctor who happened to be passing by.

 

 

Some others also pointed to the difference in medical attention the two parties received as those from the Alto car were rushed to a government hospital in Jaipur.

Even as an FIR was registered against Hema Malini’s driver, there were some who weren’t convinced and speculation was rife about how the accident may actually have happened.

 

Past controversies involving the actress were raked up, as also her behaviour with people around her.

 

There were also some voices of sanity appealing for calm and appealing for the tragedy not to be turned into a political controversy.