'Officials are insensitive'

'Officials are insensitive'
Rashmi Rao
A small news report quoting police as saying that the parents admitted to negligence on their part, has worsened the family's misery in their hour of grief.

By a strange quirk of fate, six-year-old Ahan Bhandari playing around Garuda Mall’s escalator on the fourth floor slipped through a gap near the floor railings and fell down 50 ft to his death, right in front of his horrified mother’s eyes.

This happened a fortnight ago, but the incident left its mark on virtually every parent who takes his/ her kids to malls.

Imagine then, the horror, grief and trauma the family underwent. Harshita and Bharat Bhandari, parents of little Ahan, are still in a state of shock. Close family and friends too are so numbed by the incident, they have not been able to talk about it.

But a small news report quoting police as saying that the parents admitted to negligence on their part, has worsened the family’s misery in their hour of grief.

The parents agreed to speak to Metrolife, only to clear the air from their side. “We have just re-lived the most horrifying day of our lives all over again.

Till now, we’ve kept to ourselves, and not even filed a complaint against the mall authorities for lack of safety measures. I still don’t believe that my baby is no more,” said the distraught mother, trembling every time her son’s name was mentioned.

“To give a statement to the media that we have accepted it was neglience on our part, is like telling us that we killed our own son. The police have shown just how insensitive they can be,” said an emotional Bharat, an industrialist, who came to Bangalore some years ago to settle down here.

Close family members narrated the events of that Black Sunday. A group comprising the Bhandari family, including Ahan and his brother, and other relatives, went to Inox (on the 4th floor of the mall) to watch a movie.

While the adults got busy getting tickets, Ahan, along with his brother and other children stood near the railings to watch a promotional event taking place on the ground floor.

While doing so, Ahan held on to the escalator handrail where the floor railing ends and was pulled towards the gap between the escalator and the railing. He lost balance and fell down, they said.

“We haven’t found such security loopholes in other malls. Even 5th Avenue on Brigade Road, which was built 15 years ago, has rods to cover the gap between railing and escalator. Why couldn’t there have been better security here?

“Instead of looking into their lapses, police officials are stating that the boy’s parents have accepted their negligence! Why are officials putting words into the parents’ mouths? The family has chosen not to make any statements before mediapersons or authorities. Why are officials taking advantage of their silence,” asked another relative.

A close friend of the family added: “On the fourth day of mourning, when everyone was getting ready for prayers, they (mall authorities) came to the Bhandari house accompanied by a police official and a former minister.

Heartless

“Before leaving, they showed utter disregard to the family’s grief and insisted Ahan had died because of an accident. ‘You have seen the CCTV images. It was not our fault; it was an accident’, they said. How can anyone be so insensitive and heartless?”

“If they were indeed faultless, how come they put up safety nets within one week? They only want to pass the buck,” Bharat added.

Yet another friend said Ahan’s parents were in such great shock, they had to be sedated for two days after the boy’s cremation.

“If they had wished to, they could have filed a case. But they chose to let things be. The Government has ordered a probe into the incident after some elected representatives raised the issue in the Legislative Council. This shows their concern and we hope the probe does not remain on paper.

“In the meantime, the least any of these authorities can do is refrain from making insensitive and baseless statements,” said a relative.