The Jet Airways flight carrying the body is scheduled to reach Mumbai early on Saturday. It would then be flown to Mangalore on Sunday for funeral.
The body of nurse Jacintha Saldanha was on Friday flown to India, the Indian High Commission here said, as a fresh controversy erupted over the circumstances leading to her death following a newspaper report that a suicide note she left behind contained criticism of the Edward VII hospital staff, though details were not known.
The Jet Airways flight carrying the body is scheduled to reach Mumbai early on Saturday. It would then be flown to Mangalore on Sunday for funeral.
The Guardian reported that one of the three handwritten notes left behind by Ms. Saldanha criticised the hospital staff in the wake of the hoax call from two Australian radio presenters who posed as the Queen and Prince Charles to obtain medical details of the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Williams.
Three days after answering the call, which she took to be genuine, Ms. Saldanha committed suicide by hanging herself in her house, close to the hospital.
“One note deals with the hoax call by the DJs from 2Day FM, another details her requests for her funeral, and the third addresses her employers, the hospital, and contains criticism of staff there, The Guardian understands from two separate sources,” the newspaper said. Typed copies of the three notes were given to her family and they had read them, it added.
The hospital defended its actions as it held a service in Ms. Saldanha’s memory. “King Edward VII's is a small hospital, with a tight-knit team. Everybody knew Jacintha, and we were all left deeply shocked by her tragic death following the hoax telephone call. This service was a chance for everyone here to pay their respects and remember a dear colleague,” said its chief executive John Lofthouse.
Labour MP Keith Vaz, who is acting as a spokesman for Ms. Saldanha’s family, released a letter he wrote to Mr. Lofthouse, asking for the “full facts” to be given to the family.
“The family gave you a list of questions that they wish the hospital to answer so that they can have the full facts of the case. I know they would appreciate answers to their questions in writing as soon as possible. They may also have additional questions,” the letter said.
E-mails under scrutiny
The police said they were looking at a number of Ms. Saldanha’s e-mails and her telephone contacts as part of their investigation.
“There are a number of e-mails that are of relevance in helping us establish what may have led to this death, and we are also looking at the deceased’s telephone contacts. Detectives spoke to a number of witnesses, family, friends and colleagues in order to establish anything that led or may have contributed to this tragic death,” Detective Chief Inspector James Harman told a coroner’s court on Thursday.
Keywords: Jacintha Saldanha, Indian nurse, Jacintha's suicide, UK prank calls
Therefore, I would love to know who gave the DJs the phone no. If phoned
from Australia, there should have been 13 nos dialled which there are
not on the recording. Did someone in London record Jacintha's saying
these 5 words and then send it to someone in Australia to give to a
radio station to do what they wanted with it or was there a more direct
sinister motive?
The Royal hopsital and some its staff have a lot of explaining to do. More details you get, more murkier the story seems to be.
It is possible that Jacintha Saldanha was hounded to the point where she
decided, like many Indians would, that suicide was the only honorable
way out. Two points here: in a globalized world Indians need to re-
orient themselves to develop a thicker skin. and two,the Brits need to
take their high falluting royalty with more than a pinch of salt.
Ms Saldanha died a needless death.
This incident shows how cruel a "routine prank" can end up. An aspect
not touched upon is the cultural and language differences that caused
Jacintha to divulge details. A native English nurse perhaps may have
smelt the prank far more easily, given that the accent was not that
good; but for a person who grew up speaking a different tongue this is
harder to spot. Culturally, too, Jacintha would not have anticipated
such hoax calls, as much perhaps as an English nurse. These have
contributed to robbing of the mother, the wife, and the daughter that
Jancintha was. This prank call culture is catching on in India's radio
and TV world too, an import we can well avoid. Who can guess the
medical condition of a victim? Suppose (s)he collapses in shock and
dies? Who will be held responsible? It is a low mind that seeks
thrills in making people squirm or feel stupid in full public view.
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