Eastern Eye (UK)

Seat belt shock

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THE death of Cyrus Mistry in a car crash in India on September 4 recalled that of Diana, Princess of Wales, 25 years ago. Neither was wearing a seat belt.

Mistry, 54, was appointed chairman of Tata Sons in 2013, in succession to Rata Tata, but was ousted from the post three years later.

He was seated in the rear seat in a Mercedes with a friend, Jahangir Pandole, who was also killed when the vehicle hit a road divider at 89 mph on the Surya river bridge during a return journey from Gujarat to Mumbai. At the wheel was Anahita Pandole, who was taken to hospital with her husband, Darius Pandole. The couple were wearing seat belts.

In India, it is mandatory for rear seat passengers to wear seatbelts, but this rule is often ignored. The country’s transport minister, Nitin Gadkari, said henceforth those caught flouting the law would be fined because at “any cost, lives have to be saved”. However, he emphasised that fining people was not the goal, but cutting down road accidents by 50 per cent by 2024.

In 1997, neither Diana nor Dodi Fayed, seated next to her in the speeding car, was wearing a seatbelt. They were both killed, as was the driver, Henri Paul. The only one to survive was Diana’s bodyguard, Trevor ReesJones, who was sitting in front of her wearing a belt.

A pathologis­t, Dr Richard Shepherd, who had performed more than 23,000 postmortem­s, examined the evidence as part of a British police inquiry into her death called Operation Paget.

He said Diana’s injury was “very small”, just “in the wrong place”, adding that there were multiple “if onlys” that could have prevented her death.

“If only she had hit the seat in front at a slightly different angle. If only she had been thrown forward 10mph more slowly. If only she had been put in an ambulance immediatel­y.

“But the biggest if only, in Diana’s case, was within her own control. If only she had been wearing a seat belt. Had she been restrained, she would probably have appeared in public two days later with a black eye, perhaps a bit breathless from the fractured ribs and with a broken arm in a sling.”

In January 2018, I went to the London Business School (LBS) to hear Mistry give his side of the story behind his sacking. The businessma­n, an alumnus of the LBS, was speaking under the “Aditya Birla Centre Distinguis­hed Speaker Series”.

Also present was Prof Nirmalya Kumar, who was “let go” as head of strategy at Tata Sons when Mistry was sacked as chairman. Nirmalya, who moved from the LBS to take up a post as Mistry adviser, had flown all the way from Singapore to hear Mistry speak.

I could listen to what Mistry had to say, but could not report it. Nirmalya, a friend who is a great collector of Tagore paintings and the Kalighat School, told us: “No reporting, no recording, some of the issues are still sub judice and Cyrus would like to talk frankly.”

He had shelved the book he was planning on Mistry’s sacking, Tornado at Tata.

Mistry came across as a soft-spoken, affable chap. At the reception afterwards I did ask him about one of his points – India, where only 25 per cent of the available female urban population was in employment, should aim to emulate China, where the proportion was 75 per cent. This would greatly benefit the Indian economy, he argued.

 ?? ?? AVOIDABLE TRAGEDY: Professor Nirmalya Kumar (left) with Cyrus Mistry in 2018
AVOIDABLE TRAGEDY: Professor Nirmalya Kumar (left) with Cyrus Mistry in 2018

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