Tejaswini L Sulakhe (26) and her two-year-old son Vihaan died when a caged under-construction pillar fell on the two-wheeler they were on.
Namma Metro Pillar Collapse Accident that killed a 28-year-old mother and her toddler son in Bengaluru
The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday, 25 July, issued notices to the state government, Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), and others on a petition filed by a man who lost his wife and minor child in the Namma Metro pillar collapse incident earlier this year, seeking compensation.
Petitioner Lohit Kumar V Sulakhe, the husband of the deceased Tejaswini L Sulakhe and their two-year-old son, filed a writ petition demanding compensation of ₹10 crore, claiming that the accident occurred due to the negligence of the BMRCL.
Tejaswini L Sulakhe (26) and their son Vihaan, who were travelling on a bike along with Lohit and their daughter, died after the under-construction Metro pillar fell on them near the Nagawara area of Bengaluru on 10 January. The BMRCL had offered Lohit a compensation of ₹20 lakh.
In his petition, which was heard by Justice Krishna S Dixit, Lohit submitted that a “mere compensation of ₹20 lakh was not sufficient for the innocent life which was lost due to the inaction, inadequate safety measures, and carelessness on the part of the respondents”.
During the hearing, the petitioner’s lawyer told the court that Lohit and Tejaswini were married in 2017, after which twins were born to the couple. The couple hailed from Davangere and had come to Bengaluru for employment.
Around 10 am on 10 January, Lohit and his wife and two children were travelling on a two-wheeler from their home in the Horamavu area of Bengaluru.
As the bike was passing on the road beside a BMRCL pillar that was under construction, it fell on the two-wheeler.
The accident happened in front of a private bank on the Ring Road in the HBR Layout area. The caged under-construction pillar fell on Tejaswini and her son Vihaan, grievously injuring them.
Lohit and his daughter were seated in the front and escaped with minor injuries. Both Tejaswini and Vihaan were rushed to the hospital, where they died.
The petitioner submitted before the court that three days after the incident, an engineer from the BMRCL’s Operations Department issued him a letter, offering ₹20 lakh as compensation for the death of his wife and son.
Tejaswini, who was a software engineer, was drawing a salary of ₹75,748 per month and her earnings per annum was ₹9.09 lakh, he said.
The petitioner further said that the compensation was “not adequate, and the same is just a mere compensation to hide the negligence of their part of safety work and the fact that all the respondents present in this case lacked knowledge on safety precautions and how all the respondents were careless and ignorant about the safety measures and due to which two innocent lives were lost”.
Noting that Tejaswini was the breadwinner in the family, which had recently moved into a flat purchased on loan, Lohit sought compensation of ₹10 crore.
The court adjourned the case to a date after two weeks and issued notices to the respondents to file their objections.
The notices were issued to the chief secretary to the state government, the managing director of BMRCL, the deputy commissioner of the Bengaluru Urban district, and the managing director of Nagarjuna Construction Company, among others.
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