Teen could lose eye after trying to take shortcut to Bandra’s light show

Visitors seen climbing over railings to enter the garden where the light show took place on Sunday. Pic/Satej Shinde

From the way people made desperate attempts and took shortcuts to enter the venue where the Bandra Wonderland light show happened on Sunday, it seemed a disaster was waiting to happen. A 19-year-old woman received grievous injuries while she tried to climb over a gate and a sharp edge of the railing pierced her eye. She was immediately rushed to Bhabha hospital by a local citizen and later shifted to Nair hospital where on Monday she underwent a major eye surgery.

The woman, Grawin D'Souza had gone to watch the light show with four of her friends and the incident happened when they were trying to enter the garden from the Bandra side. D'Souza was rushed to hospital by Mushtaq Ansari, who told mid-day, "Around 7 pm on Sunday I was at the Bandra Reclamation. There was a huge crowd on the Western Express Highway and people had parked their vehicles there. Most of them were not being able to enter due to massive crowding, so they were trying to get in through shortcuts. The woman tried to climb over a gate and a sharp edge of the railing pierced her eye. I immediately stopped an autorickshaw and took her to Bhabha hospital. However, she was later shifted to Nair hospital."

A video grab shows visitors taking a shortcut to enter the venue

Speaking to mid-day, D'Souza's friend Fukran said, "Many people were taking shortcuts to enter the garden. She slipped while climbing over the gate and injured her eye. She lost a lot of blood. Luckily, a local person helped us. On Monday doctors performed a surgery and said that it would take another day for them to know whether she would get back her vision."

"It was a big event but very few entry points. There were two entry and exit points, one on the Bandra side and the other on the Bandra Worli Sea Link side. We were trying to enter from the Bandra side when the incident happened," Fukran added.

When asked about the crowding that took place on Sunday despite the government imposing Section 144 post 9 pm, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 9), Manjunath Singe said, "We had instructed the organiser to stop the show at 8.45 pm so that visitors could move out of the venue. We had also told them that they could continue the show later, but it would be only for those passing from the area. On Sunday, most of the visitors parked their vehicles on the highway due to which there was traffic congestion. We haven't taken any action in this matter."