December is the follow-up month at TNM where we go back to headlines of the past for a status update. In this series, we strive to bring focus back to promises made by governments, revisit official investigations that should have been completed by now and exhume issues of public interest that lost steam over time.
On November 23, 2019, P Khadija Tul Kubra, an engineering graduate, was on the phone sharing the good news with her father that she had cleared an interview and landed herself a job. As she spoke, a car came crashing down from the newly-constructed Biodiversity flyover in Hyderabad. Kubra, a 24-year-old woman had just got out of the IT company’s office after her interview and was walking along with her friend while she witnessed the car landing on the road, tossing in the air and crashing into a tree. A branch from the uprooted tree fell onto Khadija’s hip injuring her grievously. Satyaveni, a 56-year-old woman who was at the same location along with her daughter at the time of the accident, died in the accident while three others were injured.
The red coloured Volkswagen GT car, driven by 27-year-old Kalvakuntla Krishna Milan Rao, was initially said to be speeding at 104 km/hour while the speed limit on the flyover was only 40 km/hour. A speeding ticket was auto generated on the car moments before the accident, and remains unpaid until today. A chargesheet has been filed and the case is presently pending before the 8th Additional District and Sessions Court in LB Nagar. Milan Rao had managed to get a stay on his arrest in the case from the High Court. Although the chargesheet has been filed in the case, it is still unclear if the procedural aspects post filing of the chargesheet has been completed and the commencement of the trial in the case looks a distant reality. Police sources said that they have completed their work by filing the chargesheet and are now waiting for the court to list the case. Families of victims said that they have not been summoned by the court yet.
According to the chargesheet of the Raidurgam police seen by TNM, the Telangana State Forensic Science Laboratory concluded from its analysis that the vehicle was being driven at 136.8 km/hour at the time of the accident. Though the case was initially booked under 304 (a) of the IPC (negligent and rash driving) later it was changed to sections 304 (II) and 308 (II) both sections for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
Milan Rao who suffered a collar bone fracture and other minor bruises was discharged after a few days of treatment at Care Hospital in Banjara Hills. Initially, his counsel tried to blame the newly constructed flyover’s design for the accident. However, the investigation found that he was driving the vehicle beyond permissible speed limits and it was the reason why he lost control of the vehicle.
According to Khadija’s younger brother Abdul, just before the accident took place, she had told her father that she would now take care of the family and that he no longer had to worry. Khadija hailed from Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh and had come over to Hyderabad to attend an interview in a company where her friend was working. When the accident took place, her friend escaped by a whisker while Khadija ended up grievously injured. She was rushed to Care Hospital where she had to undergo treatment for a broken pelvic bone.
P Khadija Tul Kubra at her home in Anantapur
Fast forward three years, despite several physiotherapy sessions and medicines, Kubra still struggles to walk and is mostly restricted to her bed at her home in Anantapur. Speaking to TNM, her brother said, “Every time she walks a bit, her hip gets swollen and she suffers a lot of pain. We had to shift our house as my sister couldn’t use the Indian style washroom. We had to move to another house. There is not a single week which goes by without my sister breaking down thinking about what happened to her. The accident shattered her dreams and broke her completely.” She could never manage to take up the job that was offered to her. Khadija’s father, who worked as a painter, no longer works because of health issues. Her younger brother Abdul is the one who is working and taking care of the family.
Abdul wonders why even after three years, the trial hasn’t even commenced yet in the case. “Is it because we belong to a poor family that the case is not being taken up? We were told by everyone that the one who drove the car was a big guy and that he would get away. However, we always believed that justice would be delivered,” he said.
According to Abdul, though the family had received help for meeting the hospital expenses, they did not get a single rupee as compensation for what happened to Khadija. Every time Abdul travels to Hyderabad, he makes it a point to visit the Raidurg police station to find out the status of the case. “We don’t have any update about the status of the case. Each time we ask, all we are told is that the trial is yet to commence,” said an anxious Abdul. “However late, we would want justice to be delivered,” said Abdul.
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