Put the brakes on the blame game

BJP MP Hema Malini, who was recently in a road accident that killed a four-year-old girl in Rajasthan, on Wednesday blamed the death on the child's father.

Hema said had he followed traffic rules, his daughter's life could have been saved. She used Twitter to post her comments and has received an angry backlash from many people, including, of course, the father.

The actress, who was injured in the mishap, said, "My heart goes out to the child who unnecessarily lost her life and the family members who have been injured in the accident."

"I wish the girl's father had followed traffic rules, then this accident could have been averted and the little one's life saved," she tweeted.

Then, the victim's father Hanuman Mahajan alleged that it was Hema's Mercedes that was speeding above 100 km per hour when his car was hit. While Hema may be trying to clear the air because she was accused of not asking about the family. Others had also accused her of not telling the hospital to treat the case urgently, but this may be unfair to the star, and trading blame on a micro-blogging site at this time is uncalled for.

Instead, the star should have, first and foremost, condoled the death of the little girl in the mishap and expressed her deepest regrets for those injured in the accident.

Because of her celebrity status, her tweets will draw attention. Her statements need not have ascribed blame to anybody in the mishap. If she felt she had to express this sentiment, she could have reached out to the family and spoken privately.

But instead of stopping at sympathy and heartfelt condolences, she made it a blame game by talking about how the father had not followed traffic rules. A little more tact and thought would have had the desired impact. Now, controversy has overshadowed any condolence and the actor's regret and sympathy seems hollow because of the furious finger-pointing that has followed this tweet.