KOCHI: Silence and sorrow envelop the small house in Chittoor. The flowers and vessels used for the funeral rites remain scattered around. Inside, Jayabalakrishnan’s wife is withdrawn into grief, unable to bring herself to step out and speak to anyone. The couple’s three children, meanwhile, face a future without the man who they considered the family’s pillar.
A day after the funeral of Jayabalakrishnan, 55, who was killed after a luxury car driven by the 17-year-old son of an additional district judge rammed his two-wheeler at Cheranalloor, his elder children, Bharat Shankar and Bhadrakeerthi, are approaching the police station and officials, demanding justice for their father.
Bharat recalls how he had helped his father, who ran a small eatery, prepare the ingredients and other supplies needed for the business on Saturday night. “Our father was our shelter, our pillar. Now that he is gone, we are left with a question: Who will take care of us,” Bhadrakeerthi said.
The eatery was more than a business, it was the livelihood on which the family had been surviving for nearly three decades. The eatery had sustained the family and paid for the education of the three children.
“We were told that the police would arrest him (the teen driver), but he was granted bail almost immediately. He was apprehended twice, and released on bail both times. What message do such instances, where someone loses a life and the accused is released quickly, send to others?” asked Bhadrakeerthi.
“We cannot bring our father back. What we want is justice. Action should be taken without considering money, power or influence,” she said.
The family, which protested in front of the Cheranalloor police station on Monday, too, also questioned the time it had taken the police to apprehend the teen. The family alleged that an officer had assured them it would be done within half an hour, but it took around three hours. They fear the delay could have allowed evidence to be destroyed or people to be influenced.
Ananthakrishnan, Jayabalakrishnan’s nephew, also recalled how the teen’s father spoke to the family in a dismissive manner. He claimed the police took his phone after he photographed the victim and handed it to another person who had accompanied the minor’s father.
That person, Ananthakrishnan, alleged and deleted the pictures. Following a conversation with Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, the family temporarily called off the protest late on Monday night. However, the family warned that the protest would be intensified if their demands were not met by 4 pm on Tuesday.