Mangalore air crash: Pilot's family fought for dignity, not for 'quick money': Advocate
Daijiworld Media Network
Mangalore, Nov 5: Following the report on daijiworld regarding Mumbai labour court's order to Air India to pay a compensation of Rs 8 crore to the family of Capt Zlatko Glusica, the pilot of the ill-fated Dubai-Mangalore Air India Express flight which crashed at Bajpe in May 2010, advocate Yeshwanth Shenoy, who represents the pilot's family in the case, clarified that the family fought for dignity and not for 'quick money' as alleged by some.
In a letter to daijiworld responding to readers' comments, Shenoy stated, "I represented the pilot’s family and I was extremely pained by the response of the readers of daijiworld who were venting their ire on the pilot involved in IX 812 crash. The Court of Inquiry (CoI) report blamed the pilot, but how many of them have read the report? The CoI report just conveniently blamed the pilot who was dead knowing fully well that he cannot come up with his side of the story.
"I filed a criminal case against AI, AAI, DGCA and its officials and it took me one year to convince the magistrate that the accident was not an ‘accident’ but the result of gross negligence of people named in my complaint. How many of these people came up in support of it?"
He added, "The people who now ask the reason as to why the pilot is to be paid such a huge compensation should also know that his family has not got a single rupee because they wanted to fight for their dignity and not money. I have seen it in front of my eyes when victims' families left their dignity outside the doors while negotiating with Air India because none of them could wait, but wanted ‘quick money’ and that too when each of them had got Rs 10 lac. The pilot's family stood strong for their dignity and the labour court rightly upheld their dignity and in the process were awarded the ‘just’ compensation.
"The fact is that the victim’s family could not stand up for their rights and therefore they got amounts at the mercy of Air India and its lawyers. I have filed a matter in the Supreme Court seeking Rs 5 crore for the passengers, but unfortunately other than the one victim family that I represent, nobody has ever come to support the case. The victims' families do not want to stand up even now, but want to wait on the fence to see if anyone gets compensation and then want a free ride on it but unfortunately this doesn’t work. If the passengers still want to stand up, I am willing to take up their matters and make them parties in the supreme court, but how many would want to take up the fight and contribute to that fight?"
"All I can say is that when you do not have the ability to stand up and fight for yourself, you do not have the right to blame the person who stood up and fought for their rights," he concluded.