I gathered evidence to establish that it was not an accident death, forcing the police to reopen the case,” said Ms Maurya.Nandini’s family is not the only one to have pushed the police into action. A marking on the plastic piece helped her identify the brand of the car allegedly involved in her brother’s the hit-and-run case.N.Then began her visits to showrooms selling that particular car brand in Bhopal and some workshops.
Women and girls being the first and immediate victim of a mishap in the family are leading the battle for justice, said Mr Choudhury.
“My family was devastated by the tragic death of my brother in a road accident here on September 30.In another case, a Madhya Pradesh housewife spent two years on her personal investigation and gathered evidence to help police seize a vehicle that killed her son in the city.This trend of victims’ kin deciding to launch their own investigation into fatal accidents reflects the frustration among people due to unhelpful police, says a sociologist.As part of her efforts to help police trace the culprit, Ms Maurya made a 14-second animated clip to recreate the accident to establish that it was a deliberate attempt to harm her son and not a mere accident.
Her brother, a Class 12 student, was hit by a car when he was returning home on his bike on September 30. Choudhury, professor and head of the department, sociology, Barkhatullah University, said the two cases reflect poorly on police.Bhopal: At her age, Nandini Kahre will not be found eligible even to portray the role of a cop on stage.Another accident victim’s family helped police seize an offending vehicle in a hit-and-run case after digging out CCTV footage and locating the vehicle, which was dismissed as “unidentified” by cops.According to her, a scrutiny of the accident site on October 13 led to recovery of a tiny piece of plastic which appeared to have blow molding machine fallen off the offending vehicle’s broken tail lamp.She took pictures of the car and alerted the police about her find.These clearly indicate a gradual erosion of public faith in the system.Over the next two years, Ms Maurya fought odds and collected evidence by visiting the accident site and interacting with witnesses, forcing the police to consider a possible angle of homicide instead of a “untraced” hit-and-run case.
“Both the cases show frustration among the people over the lackadaisical attitude and indifference of police to ensure justice,” he said. Hence, I decided to visit the accident site to look for clues,” recalled Nandini.“A 10-year-old girl could locate the vehicle involved in the accident within two days. The police later seized the car and launched a probe into the matter that was as good as shut after their own investigation, which showed involvement of an “unidentified speeding vehicle” in the incident.