Mohit Yadav, a bus conductor hailing from Mainpuri and formerly employed by Uttar Pradesh Roadways, tragically took his own life by leaping in front of a train on Monday.
This distressing act followed his dismissal, stemming from a viral video that captured him halting a bus to allow two Muslim passengers to pray in Bareilly, reported Muslim Mirror.
The incident, which occurred on the night of June 3, unfolded aboard a Janrath bus under the operation of Bareilly Depot. The bus, en route from Satellite Bus Stand to Kaushambi, was briefly halted by both Yadav and the driver, K.P. Singh, before departing from Bareilly. Passengers were left questioning the abrupt stop, to which they were informed that it was made to accommodate two Muslim passengers who sought to offer their prayers.
The situation escalated when a passenger named Satendra recorded a video of one of the praying passengers. This video was subsequently shared on various social media platforms, leading to outrage and a formal complaint lodged by Satendra with the Uttar Pradesh Transport Corporation via X, formerly Twitter.
The video depicted fellow passengers expressing their discontent over the bus being halted on the road at night to accommodate the prayers of just two individuals.
As the video went viral, it triggered a series of events that culminated in the termination of both the bus driver, K.P. Singh, and the conductor, Mohit Yadav. Acting upon the directives of Additional Regional Director (ARD) Deepak Chaudhary, ARD Sanjeev Srivastava executed the termination of their contracts.
Tragically, Yadav’s dismissal proved too much for him to bear, leading him to return to his hometown of Mainpuri, where he took his own life by leaping in front of a train. The news of his death sent shockwaves through the Bareilly Roadways community, prompting employees to halt work at the workshop in a poignant protest against the circumstances surrounding Yadav’s fate.
While the Mainpuri Railway Police have initiated an investigation into Yadav’s untimely death, this tragic incident has ignited conversations surrounding the complexities of religious accommodation within the workplace and the far-reaching repercussions of viral content.