Ramya's Murder: Have traffic cops finally learnt a lesson?

It was not Ramya's fault that she bid a premature goodbye to the world, death came looking for her in the form of a drunken engineering college student

Nine-year-old Ramya lost her battle against death at 8 pm on Saturday. It was a losing battle she was fighting given that when she was admitted to Hyderabad's Care Hospital last Friday with severe injury to the brain and a major fracture in her right leg. She was on ventilator support through the week. 

 It was not Ramya's fault that she bid a premature goodbye to the world. Death  came looking for her in the form of six drunken youth in a car driven by a 20-year-  old inebriated Shravil, an engineering college student on July 1. Unable to control  his car at high speed, Shravil hit the road divider on a busy road in Hyderabad and  crashed into the car on the other side of the road, in which Ramya was travelling.  Her 35-year-old uncle, Rajesh who was driving the car, died on the spot and  mother Radhika, another uncle and grandfather suffered serious injuries. 

 "It is a shame for the city and India that six spoilt kids make an entire family suffer  like this. Why should only one of them be arrested? All of them should be behind  bars,'' says an angry Dr Gopi Krishna, Deputy Medical Superintendent at Care  Hospital, who was looking after Ramya. It is very obvious that Dr Krishna, who is  used to witnessing trauma in his professional life, was very moved by the little one's  tragic death. "This is terrorism of a kind. It is the failure of the traffic police to check  drunken driving. The parents of the boys are to be blamed as well,'' he said.

 Ramya's mother Radhika who had undergone a surgery in another hospital, with a  rod inserted in her leg, was not told till Friday evening about her daughter's  condition. When she was finally told, she insisted on travelling from Yashoda  Hospital, where she was admitted to Care Hospital. The mother's anguish in the  ICU was heart-rending. 

 Ramya's paternal grandfather underwent a facial surgery after the accident. The  family says the 63-year-old is now critical as the operation did not go off well, with  blood leaking into his lungs and now only 40 per cent of his lungs are functional.  Another uncle is out of danger but cannot walk. Rajesh's wife and child are  distraught, unable to come to terms with the sudden turn of events. Rajesh, a  project manager with a software major, was to travel to the US on work, last week. 

 "It is a cold-blooded murder. The students knew they were drunk, had no driving  license, yet they chose to drive the car,'' says R Vivek, Ramya's uncle. "We want  justice. Rajesh was driving on the right route, following all traffic rules, yet a  promising career and a young life have been snuffed out. The entire family has  been ruined for no fault of ours.'' 

Barring Telangana Assembly speaker Madhusudana Chary, who came visiting, no minister from the Telangana government, Mayor of Hyderabad, politician or police officer, has come forward offering condolences or support. The family is also in a financial bind, with Yashoda Hospital for the grandfather and uncle alone, coming to Rs 15 lakh. 

Even as the family insists on making Ramya's death a test case to campaign against drunken driving, the Hyderabad traffic police is mulling starting surprise checks during the day as well. At present, checks for drunken driving are done only late at night, more so over the weekend.