Hyderabad: Week saw four other women victims

Hyderabad: The failure of systems has left four women dead and two injured in a span of four weeks. The deaths occurred due to alleged substandard construction of infrastructure projects, failure of police, speeding vehicles and reckless driving of temporary RTC drivers.

In the case of Dr P Priyanka Reddy, the National Commission for Women has pointed to police negligence, stating that they delayed taking action. The report said the victim's family was shunted between two police stations citing jurisdiction when they tried to lodge a complaint.

The NCW pointed out that there was no women officer in the investigation team. The commission also said that it was strange of the police to claim that CCTV footage at the toll plaza in Shamshabad was unclear. The NCB ridiculed the police for not taking action against the accused men as they sat drinking alcohol in the vicinity of the toll plaza where the doctor had parked her two-wheeler. It also questioned the lack of patrolling in the area.

On November 26, a 35-year-old woman riding a scooter was mowed down in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad, by a Telangana State Road Transport Corporation bus. Police said the accident that took the life of Sohini Saxena, working with Tata Consultancy Services, occurred due to the negligence of the RTC driver. The police arrested the driver but have yet to make clear why the accident occurred. The RTC management refused to comment on the case.

Just a day later, a woman on a scooter was run over by a lorry in Kushaiguda on November 27. Saritha, a resident of ECIL, was travelling from Kushaiguda towards her house when the lorry hit her vehicle. The police is blaming the victim, claiming that she took a turn on the wrong side.

In another accident on the same day, in LB Nagar, two women were injured when a car hit them before overturning. The police booked a case but said that it was the bad luck of the women.

On November 23, a speeding car flew off the new Biodiversity flyover and crashed into a tree which fell on a woman and killed her. Satyavani, 40, was standing below the flyover when the incident took place. The public uproar over the alleged faulty design of the flyover resulted in the government constituting an expert committee to study the cause of the accident.

The outrage forced IT and municipal administration minister K.T. Rama Rao to say on Twitter: ‘Speed limit on the flyover is 40 kmph and it's clearly shown in sign boards. The car that lost control was driving at over 100 kmph, way beyond prescribed speed limit. Nevertheless, innocent bystander's death is tragic. We will rectify any design issues too to prevent recurrence.’

If the systems had worked, the lives of the women victims might have been saved.