Noida: An 11-year-old boy died after falling from the 17th floor of Hyde Park in Sector 78 on Wednesday evening. Police said the child was standing on the balcony when he saw some friends playing below and began talking to them. He allegedly lost his balance as he bent over and fell.According to police, the boy lived with his family in R Tower and was alone on the balcony around 7.30 pm when the incident took place. Both his parents were at home but in other rooms at the time. His parents and neighbours rushed him to Medanta Hospital, about 5 km away, where doctors declared him dead.Police have launched an investigation into the circumstances of the fall and are expected to examine the balcony and other relevant aspects to establish how the accident occurred. Under UP Building Construction and Development Bylaws, 2008, parapet walls and handrails along balcony edges must be at least 1 metre high and cannot exceed 1.5 metres, with highrise buildings permitted parapet walls up to 1.8 metres.National Building Code of India, 2016, specifies minimum balcony barrier heights of 1.1 metres up to the 20th floor and 1.2 metres from the 21st floor onwards. However, nothing prevents a developer from raising the height, but decisions are based on design specifications and aesthetics.Residents’ welfare associations have repeatedly demanded that balcony railings in high-rises be made taller, their designs reviewed and the gaps between grille bars reduced to improve safety after multiple incidents where kids slipped through or toppled over balcony railings.On May 19, a 4-year-old boy accompanying his mother, a domestic worker, allegedly slipped through an unprotected 15th-floor window opening without glass or a grille at Lohia Enclave, Omicron 1, and died. Earlier, on March 14, 2024, a Class XII student allegedly slipped on water while watering plants, fell over the railing of her 18th-floor balcony and died. In October that year, a 10-year-old boy at Lotus 300, Sector 107, apparently climbed onto the 13th-floor balcony railing while playing in his parents’ absence, toppled over and died.
