A little empathy by authorities could go a long way

Authorities shift logs of wood to find the body of Manjula Jha trapped underneath. Pic/Hanif Patel

A man, who was desperately searching for his mother, missing for 48 hours, reviewed multiple CCTV recordings and identified a likely location. He broke into tears upon recognising his mother's saree under a tamarind tree that had fallen in Virar. Her body, highly decomposed, was recovered 48 hours later. The victim was in her late 60s. Her son blamed authorities for doing nothing to recover the body. Despite her son's missing person report filed at a police station, the body of the senior citizen remained trapped under the tree for over 48 hours, said this paper's front page report.

After the agencies were informed, they all rushed to the spot and her decomposed, jewellery-laden body was recovered. The victim had gone to drop her grandchildren to the school bus that morning. The string winds and rain caused a tree to fall. Obviously the woman seemed to be trapped underneath the falling tree while en route home. She may have died instantly.

Fallen trees need to be cleared with a tight timeline. The branches, need to be checked soon. The entire area must be scoured. The cops could have checked surveillance, post complaint if this was a regular route. It may have given them a hint that the woman could have been hit by the tree.

Fallen trees, debris, garbage needs to be cleared as soon as possible, as this clears public space. The cops, BMC do know there is a heightened risk of tree falls this season. So, it is possible that somebody may be underneath that collapsed tree. This could be a child, even a person in a rickshaw or car. Let us acknowledge this is a very real possibility. important to have survellance and a 360 degree perspective on missing person complaints where all avenues for locating them should be explored.