21 years on, girl injured in temple elephant attack to get Rs 25 lakh, govt job

It is the basic expectation of every person to live a healthy and active life, and if such expectation is breached due to the negligence of the State or its agencies, then it is the obligation of the State to do the needful, the Madras High Court said, directing the government to provide Rs 25 lakh and a job in the HR&CE department in Tiruchy to a girl who was attacked by a temple elephant when she was three years old and has since then been breathing through an artificial tracheal tube.

On October 3, 1999, when Sindhu Lakshmi’s parents took her to Samayapuram Mariyamman temple, a temple elephant attacked Sindhu and her mother with its tusk, resulting in the girl sustaining severe injuries on her throat. Her windpipe and food pipe were completely damaged but doctors ruled out surgery as it could pose a serious risk to her life.

Since then, she was not able to breathe normally and has been breathing through an artificial tracheal tube inserted in her throat. She cannot take solid food and lost her speech as well. But despite all odds, she managed to obtain a degree in computer science. She sought the court to provide her compensation that the government failed to give so far, and a job as her father was a Transport Corporation employee earning just enough to maintain the family.

But the government submitted that the injury was not because of elephant attack but due to her fall into a garbage pit, and that it was willing to the pay medical bills worth Rs 3 lakh.

However, Justice Krishnan Ramasamy pointed out that the State, as the owner, has to maintain the animal in such a way that it would not create fear among the public. The State could not absolve or wriggle out of its liabilities merely by stating that there was no elephant attack, he said. Even if the incident occurred as claimed by the authorities, the State was still liable to compensate under public law remedy, he said.