What haunts K Santhanagopalakrishnan the most is that when his 24-year-old daughter Swathi was lying on a railway platform bleeding to death, literally no one helped.
“Even if a crow is dead, the corpse is surrounded by hundreds of other crows,” said the grieving father in an interview to India Today. “If something is happening to a common man, we should not be mute spectators. This should be the last of such an incident,” he added.
On June 24, Swathi, an Infosys employee was brutally murdered at Chennai’s bustling Nungambakkam station, four days later no arrests have been made.
The News Minute had reported how people present at the station during and after the murder were mere spectators and many chose to board the next train and carry on with their business as usual.
Santhanagopalakrishnan also expressed his helplessness and disbelief when he wondered if his daughter could have been alive had bystanders done something to help her. “I don’t know if it was due to aversion or selfishness, they allowed the attack to happen,” he told NDTV.
In addition to losing his daughter, Santhanagopalakrishnan now fears for the safety of the rest of his family. “My family is afraid to go out,” he said as the crime happened not at an isolated place, but a busy one.
While the media scrutiny on the case has heightened the pressure on the authorities to nab the culprits, much to Santhanagopalakrishnan’s dismay, the limelight extended to his daughter’s personal life as well.
Even in the hour of mourning, the techie’s father has made an appeal to not bring caste or communal colour where it is not required.
“As we talk of women’s liberation, women’s safety has to be prioritized. This type of incident should be the last one and should not be repeated. The body was lying for two hours without getting any medical attention. Even a cloth was not put over the body,” he told India Today.
Meanwhile, the police are also exploring the stalker angle with many reports suggesting that Swathi was being followed by a man for about two months. However, Santhanagopalakrishnan seemed unaware about the aspect. He said that there was only “one stray incident of stalking in May (10th May) when one guy was following her and she also spoke about the same. Otherwise my daughter never spoke about any stalker”.
Even as there has been little headway in the case so far, Santhanagopalakrishnan remains hopeful that the perpetrators will be brought to justice. He welcomed the transfer of the case to the city police. "I have confidence in the government and police. The police have assured me that the culprits can be caught within couple of days," he told NDTV.