Girl begs father for treatment, video goes viral after her death
A CASE WAS FILED AGAINST THE MAN AND HIS FRIENDS FOR INTIMIDATING THE GIRL’S MOTHER, THOGH NO ARRESTS MADE YET
HYDERABAD: A video of a 13-year old girl from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh begging her father to pay for her cancer treatment has gone viral on social media, days after she died.
Sai Sri, who died of bone marrow cancer on Sunday, made the appeal to her father Shiva Kumar 3 days before her death seeking financial assistance through a video. It was recorded on a mobile phone by her mother Suma Sri.
“Please save me, daddy. Doctors say I won’t survive for long if I don’t get treatment. You say you don’t have money, but we have a house here. Please sell it and pay for my treatment. Please do something and save me,” Sai is seen saying in the video amidst sobs.
“I want to go to school like all other children and play with my friends. If I get treatment on time, I can go to school again. I feel pain in my limbs. There is no money with mummy. If you think that she will take your money, then you take me to the hospital, and get me treated,” she says.
The video was forwarded to Kumar through WhatsApp but he did not respond, Suma alleged.
Suma told the media in Vijayawada Sai was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer in August 2016 and doctors in Hyderabad told her the only way the girl could survive was through bone marrow transplantation, which would cost around ₹ 30 lakh.
“I had no money so I called Shiva Kumar who asked me to bring the child to him, saying he would get her proper treatment at Bengaluru. I left Sai Sri with him in February this year but he did not take her to any hospital. So, I brought her back to Vijayawada,” Suma said.
She added she separated from Kumar, a follower of local Telugu Desam Party MLA Bonda Umamaheshwar Rao, when Sai was 2. Kumar wrote his house in Vijayawada to Sai but since she was a minor it was still under his name.
She wanted to raise money by selling the house but followers of the MLA, who occupied the house, prevented her from doing so, she alleged.
“That is why Sai Sri appealed to her father to sell the house for her treatment. Now, my daughter is dead. And he did not even come to see the deceased daughter,” Suma said.
Vijayawada police commissioner Gautam Sawang assured Suma he would look into the case. Though a case was registered against Kumar and his friends on charges of intimidating Suma, no arrests have been made .
Andhra Pradesh Child Rights Association, which got a clipping of this video, brought it to the notice of the State Human Rights Commission seeking action against Kumar. The SHRC has asked the police commissioner for a report by July 20.