NOIDA: A 40-year-old Central Secretariat official and his 11-year-old son died after falling from the balcony of their 23rd-floor apartment in Mahagun Mywoods, Greater Noida West, early Friday.The boy allegedly slipped while trying to pluck flowers for puja, and his father fell while attempting to pull him to safety, police said.Randeep Patra, a section officer at the Central Secretariat in Delhi, and his son Aarava, a Class 6 student, were preparing to leave for Khatu Shyam temple in Rajasthan. Before departing, they went to the balcony to pluck aparajita flowers from a climber that the family used for daily rituals.Police said Aarava climbed the balcony railing to reach the flowers but slipped and was left hanging from the edge. Randeep tried to grab his hand and pull him up but lost his balance, and both fell onto the roof of the clubhouse below, near the second-floor level of Tower 23.Randeep’s wife, Amrita Srimani, who also works as a section officer at the Central Secretariat, was inside the flat getting ready for the trip. She rushed out after hearing their screams and found them lying on the clubhouse roof. The two were taken to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared them dead.
Family was preparing for temple visit
The family, originally from West Bengal, had planned to visit Khatu Shyam early Friday. According to Amrita’s statement to police, they had purchased a plot in Khatu Shyam and were scheduled to complete its registration that morning. A car was waiting to take them to the temple, and the father and son were preparing to perform puja before leaving the apartment.The family regularly plucked aparajita flowers from a climber growing near a corner of the balcony and along the wall above it for their morning rituals.Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central Noida) Praveen Ranjan Singh said police received information about the incident through Dial 112 at around 4.20am. The bodies were sent for postmortem examinations, and inquest proceedings were initiated.Aarava was the couple’s only child. Neighbours said the deaths had left the family devastated. No police complaint had been filed in the case at the time of reporting.
Recent cases raise concerns over high-rise safety
The deaths come weeks after another 11-year-old boy died in a fall from the 17th floor of Hyde Park in Sector 78 on August 27. The child was standing on a balcony when he spotted friends playing below and began talking to them. He allegedly lost his balance while bending over and fell.On May 19, a four-year-old boy died after slipping through an uncovered window on the 15th floor of Lohia Enclave in Omicron 1. The child had accompanied his mother, who worked as a domestic worker, when the incident occurred.Earlier, on March 14, 2024, a Class XII student died after allegedly slipping on water while watering plants on the balcony of her 18th-floor apartment and falling over the railing.
What building norms prescribe
The Uttar Pradesh Building Construction and Development Bylaws, 2008, prescribe a minimum height of one metre for parapet walls and handrails along balcony edges, with a general maximum of 1.5 metres. For high-rise buildings, parapet walls of up to 1.8 metres are permitted.The National Building Code of India, 2016, specifies minimum balcony barrier heights of 1.1 metres for buildings up to the 20th floor and 1.2 metres for floors above the 20th.Developers can provide barriers higher than these minimum requirements. The final design, however, depends on the building’s specifications and architectural considerations.