A Lone Warrior
“I don’t need their job. I want justice; two senior girls are responsible for my daughter’s death. They are trying to protect them.”
These are the heart-wrenching words of a mother who just lost her child to suicide. Geeta is today well-known as the mother of one of the four athletes with the Sports Authority of India (SAI) who committed suicide at a centre in Alapuzza.
Last Wednesday evening, four 17-year-old junior rowers, Teresa Jacob, Sabitha Santosh, Shilpa KR and Aparna Ramabhadran entered into a suicide pact after being repeatedly harassed by sports centre officials.
While three of them are recovering at the Alappuzha Medical College hospital, Aparna succumbed to the poison the next morning.
The Sports Authority of India, on Friday, handed over a cheque of Rs 5 lakh to Aparna’s family and also offered Geeta a job with the SAI.
Stories of Harassment
Geeta, however, wants none of the recompense. She wants only to speak of the abuse her daughter went through.
Speaking to The News Minute, therefore, she relates how, just hours before her daughter’s death, Aparna had recounted the “unbearable” harassment from the chechis or sisters in the hostel.
In spite of everything she still called them chechi. She told me that the seniors defamed them, spread stories that she used to hide a boyfriend in the room. My daughter wailed and said that it was all false. She told me how they would abuse her and make her wash their clothes.
– Geeta, Aparna Ramabhadran’s Mother
She also alleged that the Kerala Rowing Association Secretary had tried to influence her and asked to withdraw the complaints.
“He asked me not to file a complaint against the SAI and the seniors. He also offered me money and a good job to make my statements favourable to SAI,” she declares.
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