Mom's relentless battle for justice

Chennai: When Priya Sethumadhavan watched a flash news in  television of the compensation her family would receive for their daughter’s death, she remained unfazed. No amount of money is going to bring her Sruthi back.

On July 25, 2012, Priya stood at the bus stop awaiting her seven-year-old daughter’s arrival. However, when she found that the bus had been delayed, she enquired and was told that the children had been dropped at the previous stop.

When she arrived there, her daughter was nowhere to be seen. She instantly knew something was wrong.

The girl slipped through a hole in the bus floor and died. Nearly four years down the line, nothing can offer the mother any comfort, not even the court’s judgment in her favour.

“We never really cared about the money, the well-wishers of our family advised us and asked us to file a complaint and we did. We had no idea about legal procedures, we did what we were asked to do and left the rest to the lawyers.

The money though is no compensation for our loss,” said the grieving mother.
Advocate Vasugiramanan who represented the couple has been relentlessly working on the case over the last three years.  

“The parents approached me after the accident and I took up the case for no fees. This was a clear case of shortcoming on the part of the school authorities and they deserved to pay the price,” said the lawyer.

Speaking about why it took so long for the case to come to a close, the lawyer said, “A case before the consumer court should actually be settled in 90 days,  but this case has taken so long for various reasons.”

The lawyer also mentioned how brave the parents have been through the years and applauded them for never thinking about giving up, “The mother has struggled over the last few years even having to go back to their hometown in Kerala for a few months because she became so depressed over the death.”