‘Do they know what it means to lose a child?’, asks boat tragedy victim’s mother ‘detained’ for interrupting Gujarat CM’s speech

Shinde was among the two women who were allegedly detained after they interrupted Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel during his speech at an event in Vadodara on Friday.

Even though the CM, after initially chastising them, granted the two women an audience after the event, Shinde says the meeting has brought her no hope for justice. “The decision to go to the event was our own but the police grilled us for four hours, checking our phone records to understand if someone had provoked us into doing this. Do they know what it means to lose a child? Nothing is going to bring back my daughter who was killed at the hands of a few people, who allowed the boat facility to run without following norms, and the school that organised a picnic there without taking responsibility,” she adds.

Shinde says she and Sandhya Nizama — mother of another deceased, Vishwa — were dragged away from the venue like “we were criminals”. She tells The Indian Express: “They gagged our mouths with their hands to prevent us from speaking further and the Chief Minister, from the stage, said we were women with an agenda … We are mothers, who have been left with a lifetime of pain and emptiness. What hope can we have from people, for whom, the protocol is more important than the heartache of mothers who lost their children? (The CM) was more hurt that we broke the protocol of the event, he did not show any compassion.”

Sharing details about the police questioning, Shinde says, “They asked us the entire schedule of the day: what time did I leave my house, who informed me about the programme, who encouraged me to go to the event, who gave me the saffron saree… It feels like they are trying to suppress our voices.”

She further adds, “Although the CM met us, he did not give me any consolation… In fact, he kept repeating that the process was going on as expected and everything had been done in the case. He also told me that what we did was wrong and protocol cannot be broken. I do not think our children will get justice.”

Shinde says that despite the adjudication of the High Court in the matter of awarding compensation of Rs 32 lakh per victim to the 14 families, the contractor, M/s Kotia Projects, has not yet complied with the order. “As per the HC order earlier this year, the contractor ought to have deposited two of the four installments of the Rs 32 lakh compensation, which has not been done till now… The compensation cannot bring our child back but it shows that there is no implementation of any order. Even the accused are out on bail and we are living each moment in agony,” she adds.

Advocate Hitesh Gupta, who represented the families during the hearings for computing the compensation before the Deputy District Collector, says the High Court had directed M/S Kotia Projects to pay the compensation (of Rs 31.75 lakh as calculated by the state government) in four installments of 25% over a period of four months, beginning March. “The compensation installment for two months, March and April, has not been paid yet … However, since the period of four months is yet to end, we are waiting to see if Kotia Projects will comply with the HC direction. We will decide the further course of action at the end of the period,” he tells The Indian Express.

Police probing link with ‘internal rift’ in BJP

Meanwhile, sources in the police department told this newspaper that the Vadodara city police is investigating the possibility of a link between the incident at the CM’s event and a suspected internal rift among the local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders. A senior party leader says, “The police have informed party leaders that there is a likely link between the incident and some dissenting leaders of the party, who egged the two women on to arrive at the venue and even facilitated the saffron sarees so that they would not be identified (among several other women who were wearing the colour)… It was easy as the party leaders had been instructed to bring an audience for the event. It has left the party deeply embarrassed and action will be initiated in the matter within the next few days.”

Shinde, though, says that she had “read the news article” in a local paper about the CM’s event and decided to reach the venue to meet Patel. “The police had, in any case, kept a watch on all other Harni families as they always do during VIP events… I had read in the news that the CM was visiting Vadodara on Friday and so, decided to visit the venue after confirming with Sandhya (Nizama),” she adds.

A senior police official of the Vadodara city SIT, which was formed to investigate the Harni boat tragedy, says: “FIR has been lodged in the case and 20 persons were arrested. Chargesheets have been filed and the trial has already been fast-tracked. They were subsequently granted bail by the courts as per the process of law but the state government objected to their discharge petitions filed before the court and successfully managed to have the petitions rejected through the submissions of the prosecution earlier in April…” He adds, “The state has also been proactively ensuring that all legal processes are followed in the case and wherever necessary, suitable objections are being raised to prevent any accused from escaping the law. It may be a time-consuming process but the police and prosecution are doing their best in the case.”