Mohammed Mubashir Sharieff had just started going to private tuitions. He was going to Class 10 after all. But on May 23, life took a turn for the worse when he was least expecting it.
He was heading to tuition around 1.30 p.m. He was parking his bicycle in front of a building near Pentecostal Church on Coles Road when he accidentally came in contact with a live wire dangling from a pole. He suffered a shock and fell unconscious.
It has been over a month since. Mubashir is still in hospital, even as his family — father, mother and two siblings — fervently hope for his recovery. Making matters worse for them though is the financial burden. And long gone promises of compensation are not helping.
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Subhan Sharieff, Mubashir’s father, owns an automobile spare parts shop. “It has been over a month since I did any work. We have just been in and out of hospital, and have so far spent ₹7 lakh,” he said.
Mr. Sharieff said his son initially suffered a cardiac arrest, for which he was treated at a private hospital. But as signs of brain damage surfaced, he was referred to the M.S. Ramaiah Memorial Hospital on June 8.
Doctors at the M.S. Ramaiah hospital said the boy will have brain damage. “To what extent, we can’t say until he recovers consciousness. But even if he recovers, brain damage will be there. He is presently on ventilator,” said Dr. Naresh Shetty, President, M.S. Ramaiah Memorial Hospital.
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Mr. Sharieff said family members and even the public were pitching in with whatever little help they could. “We have been waiting for compensation from Bescom (Bangalore Electricity Supply Company),” he said.
The complication begins here. Bescom, which inquired into the accident, says the manual street light box had been left open. Street lights come under the jurisdiction of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
“However, on humanitarian grounds, we will be handing over ₹1 lakh compensation to the family. This is not the time to look at whose jurisdiction it is,” said P. Rajendra Cholan, Managing Director, Bescom.
Mayor R. Sampath Raj, who was unaware of the case, too promised help. “We will offer whatever help we can,” he said.
But the assurances of help are not pacifying the family in distress. “We complained to Bescom. ₹1 lakh is expenditure for three days of his treatment. We don’t know whose jurisdiction it is. If it is the BBMP’s, let Bescom complain to them. All we are seeking is money for the treatment,” he said.