Negligence of Bus Crew Alleged! Mother Seeks Justice for Son Died in Bus through Letter to DC
Mangaluru: Following close on its heels after Team Mangalorean had published a report ‘22-year-old Engineering Student Travelling in Bus Dies ‘ dated 8 March 2020, now the grieving mother who lost her son while he travelled in a private bus (Durgamba Bus Service) from Bengaluru to Kundapur on 7 March has written a letter to the DC of Udupi G Jagadeesh seeking justice through him. The letter in which the mother has stated her ordeal of losing her only son has complained that negligence of the crew of the private resulted in the death of a 22-year-old son. The letter has gone viral on social media, and many are extending their support to the mother.
Sources reveal that 22-year-old Suhas S from Kundapur was found dead while travelling from Bengaluru to Kundapur in a private bus on 7 March. Police suspect that Suhas might have suffered a cardiac arrest based on the complaint filed by Suhas father, H S Sridhar Murthy. Hailing from Balkur village near Kundapur, Suhas was pursuing his final-year engineering at Presidency University in Bengaluru. It is learnt that on the early morning of 8 March Sridhar received a phone call from the bus conductor that his son was not responding to their wake up call and that his body temperature had come down drastically.
Sridhar quickly rushed to Kundapur and shifted his son to Kundapur Taluk Govt hospital, where the doctors pronounced him “brought dead”. Now Suhas mother in her letter to DC has stated that her son was quite well when he boarded the bus on 7 march night-but Suhas didn’t answer any calls while he was travelling in the bus that night. The family is said to have tried contacting the booking agent, but their efforts were all in vain. Later, someone answered in a harsh voice, saying that the bus was on its way to Kundapur.
The mother in her letter says, “Though we kept on asking for the bus conductor’s phone number, they were reluctant to share. Later, we got a call from the conductor on 8 March morning when the bus was near Koteshwara. After 20 minutes another person called saying that Suhas was not responding to their wake up call. But few other passengers informed us that my son had complained of the chest pain to the bus conductor when the bus was near Bantwal. The bus crew instead of being negligent, they should have taken my son to a nearby hospital or clinic right then. My only son was not given medical assistance in time, which caused his death. I say that the negligence of the bus crew took my son’s life”.
In response to Suhas mother’s letter, DC Jagadeesh said that he was pained by their loss. “I have asked the SP of Udupi Vishnuvardhan to accept a formal complaint from the mother. He meeting of private bus operators will soon be held and they will be advised about the safety measures of passengers to be taken during a journey. We will take strict action against the bus crew if they are found guilty” added DC Jagadeesh.
It should also be noted that when you travel on a long distance on a bus, like Mangaluru to Bengaluru, and when sometimes passengers who desperately need to relieve themselves (urinate) and even if they request the bus conductor or the driver, they don’t oblige- you’ll have to control your bladder till the driver decides where to stop. Such kind of attitude and rudeness of the bus crew also needs to be addressed.