Death around the nukkad

Sixyearold Ayush Shegokarrsquos favourite activity was play a rarity in the time of smart screens Be it pakdapakdi catchandcook or just rolling tyres with a stick Last Sunday April 22 he ran out of his home in Mankhurdrsquos Phule Nagar east yelling over his shoulder to his grandmother Sulochana that he was going out to playAt around 1030 am neighbours rushed to the Shegokar home saying Ayush had fallen into a pit of water and wasnrsquot responding to resuscitation Ayush drowned in a 15feet pit dug by Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation MRVC for Metro work ldquoThey are childrenrdquo says his uncle Vijay Shegokar ldquoThey will wander and play The authorities should have cordoned off the area or at least informed us or put up a notice asking us to be careful How would we know there is a deep pitrdquoVijay Shegokarmdashthe paternal uncle of sixyearold Ayush says that the pit remains open and the entry from Phule Nagar to the railway land where work was undertaken was sealed only on Wednesday PicsAshish RajeAyushrsquos playmate had also fallen into the pit but he was resuscitated ldquoWe turned Ayush on the side blew into his mouth tried to pump his stomach but he just didnrsquot respondrdquo Vijay tells us at Mankhurd station ldquoThere was an ambulance parked there we asked them to help and they too tried to resuscitate him on the way to the hospitalrdquo Rajawadi Hospital declared Ayush dead on arrivalIt was not the only tragedy to befall the ShegokarsSulochna Shegokar grandmother of Ayush not only lost her grandson but also her son Shailesh who committed suicide after he couldnrsquot bare his nephews deathAs the news spread family friends and neighbhours converged at the hospital ldquoSo did the policerdquo says Vijay ldquoThey didnrsquot leave until the next day They thought we might do somethingrdquo The family refused to take Ayushrsquos body home until those responsible were presented to them Matter heated further when the police refused to register an FIR ldquoFinallyrdquo says Vijay ldquoan officer from the Railways and a journalist family friend intervened and the case was registered in the eveningrdquoIn this commotion nobody noticed that Shailesh Ayushrsquos uncle was missing The 28yearold considered the talkative sixyearold his son ldquoAt first we thought he must have tagged along with someone for a ride He had given his mobile to his elder brother since many people were calling himrdquo Vijay explains When he didnrsquot come home till midnight Vijay got uneasy ldquoI went to the Government Railway Police GRP and described Shailesh They requested me to look at the photograph of a man who lay down on the tracks between Chembur and Govandi earlier that eveningrdquoAyush Shegokar and Sunil UdasiVijay recognised his cousinrsquos clothes immediatelyWhile his family was raging and grieving Shailesh had sat silently in the corner ldquoHe was completely silent when he heard of Ayushrsquos death He just seemed out of itrdquo says his younger sister Archana The contractor at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre BARC was 23 years old when he became Ayushrsquos proxy father The oneyearold was handed to his grandmother Sulochana while his parents did menial jobs in Dadar ldquoHe put Ayush on his shoulders and take him everywhere If someone assumed he was his son Shailesh wouldnrsquot correct themrdquo says Sulochna when we meet her in a shanty outside Mankhurd station Rajesh Ayushrsquos father only nodsAyush was headed to take admission the day after his death in Standard one He had scored 895 per cent and missed on three days of schoolNo one from the police MRVC Railways or any other government representative has contacted the Shegokar family Rajesh was the only one of the three brothers who had a child and Shailesh was the only stable breadwinnerNo compensation has been offered so far ldquoRight now we want justice for both our family membersrdquo says Vijay ldquoSome people are helping us sort out the legalities and hold the Railways responsiblerdquoSonu Vangri the mother of Arjun and Manish who drowned in an open BMC water tank at Wadala says that they hope that the R10 lakh promised by Bombay HC in a suomoto writ helps to provide a better life for her three remaining children PicsSayyed Sameer AbediMRVC chief public relations Sunil Udasi said ldquoThe case is under investigationrdquoThe Vashi Government Railway Police GRP registered a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 304 of the IPC against the supervisor and the engineerThe BMC has sealed off the tank in the garden a week after the tragedyThe area with the fatal pit has been blocked off and warnings pinned on the same You can no longer access it from Phule Nagar which is right outside the station The pit however remained uncovered as of Wednesday afternoon With tin sheets put around itrsquos perimeterIt was easy to find Sonu Waghri in Wadala Shops and thelas have been directing newspersons to her shanty for nearly a month Surrounded by family Sonu has been on autopilot since her sonsmdashfouryearold Arjun and fiveyearold Ankushmdashdrowned at Maharshi Karve Garden nearby Her youngest child oneyearold Karan clings to her She has two elder sonsmdasheightyearold Mahesh and 10yearold ManishManoj Vangri says that he hardly understood what was being said during the hearing in Bombay High Court since most of it was in EnglishHer husband Manoj sells utensils clothes and plastic items on the ferry in Vile Parle Thatrsquos where he was when he got the call about his two sons being missing ldquoIt was Sunday March 17rdquo he saysArjun and Ankush were joined at the hip On that fateful Sunday they took a bath their mother handfed them and after a quick prayer to the idol in the corner of their shack they took off with an older cousin When they didnrsquot return home by afternoon Sonu called Manoj to come look for themMonika More plays a friendly cricket match after her hand transplant in 2022 File picSameer MarkandeA shopkeeper at the entrance of the park remembers Manoj running around looking for his sons Finally the couple went to Matunga police station to lodge a missing personrsquos complaint fearing kidnappingOn March 18 the police found Ankush and Arjun floating in the water tank right in front of the parkrsquos southern entrancemdasha twominute walk from theWaghrirsquos shanty ldquoThe postmortem report said my boys struggled to stay afloat for about an hour before they diedrdquo says Manoj ldquoThey were trapped there aliverdquoYash AroraAn FIR for death by accident was filed at RAK Marg Police Station and BMC who oversees the park launched an investigation While the park belongs to the municipal corporation the maintenance was leased to a private company named Hiravati Enterprises which is also responsible for security measures Shortly park supervisor Patiram Vikram Yadav was arrested under IPC Section 304 A culpable homicideThe CCTV camera of the building across the garden helped locate the boys Manoj says they could not access the footage from the buildings around their home The footage showed the children playing near the water tank While the older boy attempted to fill water from it the other two fell inGesturing to the thick black tarpaulin covering their home Manoj says ldquoThey had covered the tank with something like that And my boys fell in Now of course theyrsquove covered the tank uprdquo Police officers confirmed the tanks did not have lidsldquoI wasnrsquot here when it happenedrdquo says the new guard in charge ldquoI saw them raise the boundary walls by at least three feet afterwardsrdquo The BMC has also razed down illegal housing in the area which includes the Waghri family homeWhile the family spoke to us the other siblings ran around in circles fascinated by our camera Manish and Mahesh were eventually pulled in for a family photograph the first one without their siblingsWhat happens when a person dies due to infrastructural oversight Deputy Municipal Commissioner Kishor Gandhi has a straightforward response ldquoAn inquiry is made If the court rules compensation has to be made the contractor will do itrdquo midday also reached out to Sachin Varise Deputy Superintendent of Gardens but did not receive a responseIn April the Bombay High Court took the Waghri case up and filed a suo motu writ petition against the State of MaharashtraIn the court hearing on April 4 in presence of Judges G S Patel and Kamal Khata reports by the Wadala Citizen forum were brought up The residents had repeatedly complained about uncovered tanks but the BMC had said they faced ldquobudgetary constraintsrdquo The article referenced written by Jyoti Punwani posed an arresting question Is there any justification for failure to provide minimum safety measures in civic bodyoperated structuresIn the subsequent hearing on April 23 senior advocate Anil Singh on behalf of the BMC stated there was a provision for ad hoc compensation to be paid by the contractor Manoj does not have a bank account but his uncle does The money is to be credited to the Suo Motu Writ Petition Sharan Jagtiani senior advocate is to coordinate with the family for the withdrawal of the moneyldquoWe went to the High Court near VT and the judge said hersquoll give us our compensation I took my uncle with merdquo Manoj told us He took the train got off at CSMT took a cab to court and listened intently to the hearing of which he understood little to none No one in the Waghri family understands EnglishldquoItrsquos not like I can speak in courtrdquo Manoj said He just stood there He didnrsquot know the judgersquos name or the councilrsquos name who assured him that he will be given the Rs 10 lakh promised by BMC What did he think about during those hours The face of his children who loved to go to school The home he had built after living in perpetual poverty His sister who had passed away just months before his children A wife tormented by grief just like himWhat happens if he is not given what he has been promised ldquoThe judge will ensure it gets done He said sordquo Manoj replies with faith Wersquore not sure if he believed what he just said Wersquore not sure if he has any other choiceThere are several other legal proceedings of the infrastructural mishaps that involve the victim and the BMC Railways Metro or a government officialFor instance a 15yearold boy in Chembur was fatally electrocuted by a metal sheet used to block the road for metro construction Investigation revealed that the iron sheets had lights on them and one of the wires was exposed making the sheets electrically active The construction was near a residential area An FIR was filed against the MMRDA supervisor and two workers were arrested for negligenceLike Manoj many canrsquot pursue justice mainly because they didnrsquot understand the jargon or afford a better lawyer Very few know about the free legal aid they are entitled to through Maharashtra State Legal Services Authority under the Legal Services Authority Act 1987 The is not applicable for cases against a private entityldquoAll underprivileged persons affected by a civic or government bodyrdquo says advocate Yash Arora ldquocan approach the Bombay High Court for Legal Aid Redressal ForumItrsquos on the first floor of the PWD building in High Courtrdquo The High Court designated panel has advocates specialising in different areas and depending on the victimrsquos grievance a lawyer is assigned ldquoThe lawyersrsquo fees are paid by the State of Maharashtrardquo says Adv Arora ldquo However more awareness should be created about these legal facilities by the Courtrsquos Tribunal and the staterdquo Legal aid lawyers mostly work against criminal offences but include civil cases if the problem is against a human body or governed body and involves a compensation feeThe biggest challenge for those from economically weak sections of society is the language barrier Legal proceedings in the High Court are conducted in English The responsibility to simplify legalese often falls on the lawyersThere are some happymdashrelativelymdashendings In 2012 16yearold Monika More fell off a running train at Ghatkopar as the gap between the footboard and the train was unusually wide More lost both her arms from elbow downwardsMonths of allegations and counterallegations between the More family and the Railways ensued While the family blamed the gap the Railways countered that since More was travelling on the footboard it disqualified her from compensationIn 2022 More underwent a hand transplant surgery and is bubbly over the phone ldquoI am doing wellrdquo she says ldquoI work as a patient care provider in Gleneagles Hospitals Parel where my surgery took placerdquo More now instils hope with victims of trauma and accidents ldquoI try to help people in whatever way I canrdquo she says ldquoI donrsquot remember much from the accident or the months after but I know my father fought for me I would just like to say this Donrsquot lose hope Keep going forwardrdquo mdash Inputs by Tanya Syed and Sanjeevni Iyer