A Chennai court has awarded Rs. 25 lakh as compensation to
the family of Afia Magh, an air-hostess from Nagaland who died in an accident in
an amusement park in Chennai in October 2012. Three years following the death
of the 20-year-old air hostess from Nagaland, her mother was on Wednesday given
a compensation of Rs 25 lakh by the court.
Justice P N Prakash, who ensured that the Demand Draft for the amount was handed over to Afia Magh's mother Sasule Magh, also quashed criminal proceedings against the park's proprietors E V Perumalsamy Reddy, his wife Rajeswari, 50, and son EVR Santhosh Reddy, 31.
Afia Magh, an airhostess with Kingfisher Airlines, had visited EVP Theme Park at Sembarambakkam with nine friends on October 2 2012. While she was enjoying the 'octopus ride', she fell down and suffered serious injuries. She died at a private hospital later in the day.
Investigations and eyewitness accounts revealed that the
accident was caused by the game operator who rushed through security procedures
due to heavy crowd.
A complaint was lodged with police saying the mishap happened due to 'negligence' of the park.
As a consumer court case filed by Sasule is pending, the judge said adding that in case that court awarded more than Rs 25 lakh, the balance would be handed over by the owners to Afia's family.
In case the award was less, her kin need not return the money to the owners. The family had sought a compensation of Rs 50.4 lakh.
Sasule Magh came from Nagaland today and collected the DD from the park's counsel R C Paul Kanagaraj.
Advocate and consumer law specialist Vasugi Ramanan, who represented the family, said she had not taken any money so far from the victim's family to conduct the case.
The park owner E V Periyasamy Reddy was arrested on November 20, 2012, while under treatment at a hospital and remanded in custody later. His wife and son obtained anticipatory bail.
The Reddys had sought quashing of criminal proceedings against them, contending that while a precious life was lost in the accident, no motive could be attributed to them for the occurrence, which took place once due to failure in the mechanism of the game ride.
As promoters, they were not directly involved in the day-to-day working of the amusement park, they had submitted.
From news archives October 3, 2012
When 20-year-old P Afia Magh got on the ‘Octopus’ ride at an amusement park near here on Tuesday, little did she know that it would be her last. The joy ride turned fatal for the flight attendant from Nagaland after she was thrown off her seat at a theme park at Chembarambakkam. Police arrested three park employees, including the operator and manager for the incident.
Lack of proper maintenance of the ride and negligence to check riders’ safety may have caused her death, police said. Kohima-native Magh, who stayed at a rented house in Ramapuram had gone to the EVP World amusement park located on the Chennai-Bangalore highway, along with nine of her friends.
Magh, who was working for a private airline, had decided to spend the day at the park, after the flight halted operations. The 20-year-old and her friends had enjoyed two rides before they boarded the ‘Octopus’. A few seconds after the ride began at 12.30 pm, Magh was thrown off her seat from a height of 10 feet. “The seat belt and the lever to lock the rider were in place. We suspect the lock may have opened during the ride, though the lever can only be opened by the rider,” police said.
The flight attendant sustained severe head injuries and was rushed to a hospital at Poonamallee, where she died. Her body was shifted to Kilpauk Medical Hospital and an autopsy was due on Wednesday.
Following a complaint from her friend Arnab Kumar Chakravathi, a software engineer, police registered a case under IPC section 304A (causing death by negligence) and arrested park manager P Raghu (37), operator C Williams (22) and his assistant V Ashok (20). “She could have been hit by one of the arms of the Octopus, when she was thrown off as there were abrasions on her back. Her father is no more. Her mother has been informed,” said Poonamallee Inspector Siddarth Sankaran.
(With inputs from PTI)
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