News channels broadcast a video that went viral all over the Country. The video shows a young 13 year old girl requesting her father to pay for her treatment. Sai Sri, a resident of Vijaywada was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer and was in need of immediate treatment.
Unfortunately, the video spread across the country only after the girl passed away on Sunday. The video moved hundreds of people and the States Human Right Commission has now taken up the girl’s case.
It has been alleged the girl’s father did not spend for her treatment even though he could afford it. To add fuel to the fire, when the girl’s mother, Suma Sri, tried selling the house that was on Sai Sri’s name her husband Shiva Kumar and TDP MLA Bonda Umamaheswara Rao together stopped Suma from selling it.
Suma Sri explained that the MLA’s men came to the house and forceful did not let her sell it. It had been reported that the girl’s parents split when Sai Sri was just a baby. Sai Sri lived with her mother in Vijaywada while her dad stayed in Bengaluru.
The video is deeply saddening as the girl begs her father to pay for her treatment. She says, “Daddy, you say that you don’t have money. At least we have this house. Please sell this house and pay for my treatment, daddy. Or else, they (doctors) say that I won’t survive for long. Please do something and save me.”
The girl cried in the video and said, “I haven’t gone to school in months. I want to play with my friends. If they complete my treatment, I will happily go back to school. My hands and feet hurt. I need the treatment. Mother really doesn’t have the money. If you think that she will take your money, then you take me to the hospital, and get me treated.”
Sri Sai was diagnosed with cancer in August 2016. Suma Sri explained, “As soon as she was diagnosed, we immediately went to a private hospital in Hyderabad. Doctors said that it was a serious case and a bone marrow transplant was the only way of ensuring that she lived.”
She continued to say, “First, they said it would cost Rs. 10 lakhs for chemotherapy and another Rs. 30 lakhs for bone marrow transplant. I didn’t have that kind of money, so I called her father. He asked me to bring her to Bengaluru, and said that he would make her survive and make her study. In February this year, I took her there.”
But sadly, the mother claimed her husband did not take the little girl for her treatment.
With a heavy heart the mother continued, “On March 2, she called me and cried. When I asked her what happened, she said that her father was manhandling her and misbehaved with her. I immediately brought her back, and went to the police station.”
To the woman’s dismay the TDP MLA Bonda Umamaheswara, used his influence and the case was not registered.
The mother broke down in tears and said, “Today, she is dead. She wanted to be a doctor. She would always tell me that.”
The MLA refused the allegations and said, “The couple have been split for a long time. The opposition is bringing up an MLA’s name for every issue. The opposition is politicising the death of a young girl, and I condemn this strongly. There is no connection to me in this case.”
The TDP MLA continued to justify himself and said, “Even when a child with cancer has died, the opposition is distorting the facts and slinging mud on TDP leaders and blaming an MLA.”
The mother of the girl fought back on the MLA’s statement and said, “When a 13 year old is suffering from cancer, being an MLA, you didn’t offer any help. Why didn’t you come forward before? When people were in my house, saying your name, why didn’t you speak up?”
Gautam Sawang, Vijayawada Police Commissioner met with Suma Sri and assured her action will be taken against the accused.
G. Palaraju, Deputy Commissioner of Police said, “There are several issues here. The moral issue is that he allegedly didn’t fulfill his duty as a father in taking care of his daughter. Secondly, as far as the property is concerned, the father had written it off to his daughter in 2003. Therefore, it does belong to her.”
Palaraju further reported, “She came to us on March 24th and said that a man called Ravi was living in the house and intimidating them. We had seen the girl that day and she was struggling to climb the stairs. We summoned Ravi, and warned him strictly not to indulge in such activities, but she did not tell us anything about the other allegations. She has mentioned those only in the complaint filed after the girl’s death. We will look into those too.”
Achyuta Rao from Balala Hakkula Sangham sent out a petition to States Human Rights Commission that read, “ The act of the girl’s father Shiva Kumar, his brothers, Bonda Uma and his associates is a severe violation of the child’s right to live. We ask the SHRC to direct the Vijayawada Police Commissioner to probe this and book criminal cases on the accused and arrest them in the interest of justice to the child.”
The Police commissioner, Palaraju has been instructed to file a report and present it to the States Human Rights Commission by July 20th.
