Techie's death: Father moves HC for special law to curb

The father of a woman techie who died after she was run over by a lorry when an illegal banner fell on her while riding a two-wheeler, on Wednesday moved the Madras High Court seeking enactment of a special legislation to provide "maximum punishment" to those setting up such banners.

"...In the absence of a special law providing maximum punishment for the offence, it is very difficult to curtail such illegal/unauthorised banners put by political parties, various organisations and private individuals," he submitted.

R Ravi also wanted the court to direct the Tamil Nadu government to provide Rs 1 crore as compensation for his daughter R Subashree's death and set up a special investigation team to conduct a probe into the September 12 incident.

The plea is likely to be taken up by the vacation bench comprising Justice S Vaidyanathan and Justice C Saravanan on Thursday.

According to Ravi, on September 12, at about 2.30 pm his daughter was returning home from office on her two-wheeler.

While she was crossing the 200 feet road in Pallikaranai, a digital banner erected illegally in the road median fell on her.

Due to the impact, she lost control of her vehicle and fell on the road. Though she was wearing a helmet, she was crushed to death by a speeding water tanker that was coming behind her, he said.

"The foremost reason for the accident and my daughters death is negligent act of the government authorities. The inaction on part of the authorities in not removing the illegally erected banner was the primary cause of the accident," he submited.

If the authorities had implemented the directions of the high court and existing regulations under the Chennai Corporation Municipal Act, the accident could have been avoided, Ravi further submitted.

"I made a representation to the state on September 24 seeking to provide Rs 1 crore compensation, constitute an SIT to investigate the accident and to bring in a special legislation to curb the menace (of illegal banners)," he said.

As the authorities failed to respond, he approached the High Court.