Father of Indian teen killed in NY horse carriage accident pleads for ban on vehicle

The City Council has tried unsuccessfully for about 40 years to ban horse-drawn carriages that give rides with a touch of nostalgia to tourists.

Parents of the deceased Indian teenager / NYC city council

Deepak Mahajan, the father of the Indian teenager killed in a horse carriage accident here while trying to save his mother, has made a tearful appeal to the New York City Council to ban horse-drawn vehicles.

"Now we are asking you plainly, 'Act now,'" Mahajan told the City Council on Wednesday (local time) as a panel considered the proposed law to be named for his son, Romanch, who was killed last month in Central Park.

Choking back tears, he said that if the Council had passed a version of this law proposed last year, "the carriages would have stopped on June 1, 2026," and his son would have been alive.

While Romanch was visiting New York with his parents and younger brother, the family took a ride through the park in a horse-drawn carriage, which is a tourist attraction.

When the driver stopped and got off to take a picture of them, the horse bolted, throwing the mother, Priya Mahajan, off the carriage.

Romanch jumped out of the carriage to save his mother, but hit his head on the ground and suffered a head injury that took his life.

"This was not an unpredictable accident," the father said. "It was a safety violation, a system's failure to protect the people who visit our city, your city, and everyone responsible has admitted the driver should never have left that carriage."

"A young boy came to America full of dreams and left us far too soon," he said while Romanch's mother, Priya, wiped her tears as she held up a picture of him with the wings of an angel.

Council Speaker Julie Menin, who supports the bill, called him a hero.

"Romanch died in an act of heroism as he tried to protect his mother. Now, a law named in his honor will protect countless others: residents, tourists, humans, and horses," she said at the hearing on the proposed law held by the Council's Committee on Health, which has jurisdiction over the matter.

Addressing supporters of the law outside City Hall, Romanch's aunt Sovia Thukral said, "I am standing here in support of Romanch's law, so that his death will not go unremembered, his passing will not be forgotten."

"Death forces society to change, so that no other family has ever to carry what we carry now," she said. "Please remember his name, Romanch Mahajan."

Urged by animal rights activists, the City Council has tried unsuccessfully for about 40 years to ban horse-drawn carriages that give rides with a touch of nostalgia to tourists.

Among celebrities supporting the ban is Emmy Award-winning actress Edie Falco.

The measure has faced stiff opposition from the powerful trade union to which the drivers belong, but this year Romanch's death has given the law impetus, increasing the chances of its passage.

Romanch had just graduated from Angel's Public School in Mamun, Pathankot, and had been admitted to one of India's most prestigious universities, Deepak Mahajan told the Council panel hearing.

"We brought a son to New York from India to celebrate Romanch finishing school," he said.

"He took his last breath in his mother's arms, while his 11-year-old brother and I stood watching," and "now we live inside that day over and over again. We are shattered. Our whole family is shattered. The pain does not go away," he said.

"We came to New York as a family of four," he said. "We are learning hour by hour to cope with life as we are three now."

Discover more at New India Abroad.

Comments

JD

James DURAISWAMY

2026-07-16 00:00:00

"I am so sorry this young man passed away while attempting to save his mother. Anyone would have done the same thing. Rest in peace.

There is an ancient Latin axiom called caveat emptor—buyer beware. Horses are inherently unpredictable, especially when navigating the crowds in Central Park. The minute you step into a carriage, you have to accept that there are risks involved. It is an incredibly tragic situation that this happened, but demanding a ban on all carriage rides in Central Park is going too far.

It’s like asking to ban all automobiles in the US because of motorist accidents. Granted, automobiles are a necessity in the US because the country’s infrastructure is built around them and public transit is virtually non-existent in many areas. Some might argue that comparing horse carriages to cars isn't entirely fair—and perhaps it isn't. You can easily walk through Central Park without a carriage. But the moment you choose to step into one, you are taking a calculated risk that things could go haywire. We see similar risks and accidents at amusement parks all the time,
I learned something a long time ago: Don't trouble trouble until trouble troubles you. Every time I went against that, I ended up in trouble,
Furthermore, New York City's leadership often leans into reactionary policies. There is a risk the mayor might attempt to ban the carriages through an executive order. By the time such an order dragged through multiple lawsuits and actually took effect, NYC wouldn't even feel like NYC anymore; it would feel like a failing city.