JOIN USHome they brought their favourite child dead
Numbed by grief, J V Sreenivasa Reddy and Savithramma consigned to earth their only child, as the entire village gathered in the farm to bid a final farewell to the girl whose dreams were cut short by a fellow lawyer’s obsession for her.
“An only child, she was a brave girl, whose provided courage to her parents to live on their lone, isolated farm located between Jambapura and Madanahalli Cross,” said a Jambapura resident.
Eyes wet, neighbours recall with pride the frail but cheerful and extrovert girl walked five kilometres everyday to her school at Madanahalli Cross, finished her PU in Chintamani and her law degree in Kolar.
“Graduation did not turn her head. She was ever the same, a warm and friendly girl, talking to everyone in the village when she was here,”another resident recalls.
Men and women recall her work ethic and humility. Their abiding memories are that of Naveena driving the tractor to plough her family farm, and taking care of all household chores, cheerfully and chirpily.
“She was a very brave girl we all were proud of, a younger sister to all of us,” says Nagaraj, a neighbour, voice choking with emotion.
Sreenivasa Reddy was inconsolable. “A few months ago, she passed the written examination for the post of Police Sub-Inspector. We were asked to pay a bribe of Rs 30 lakh for Naveena to get the job. I was not able to pay more than Rs 15 lakh, and she did not get the job. If only I had money, she would alive today,” Reddy reminiscenes with anguish tinged with bitterness.
The sobs take over.
“She was a source of strength to us. Whenever we broached the topic of marriage, she would say she would marry only after becoming a lawyer,” the father manages to mutter amid his sobs, the words hardly able to express how much she meant to him and his wife.
“She was like a tigress. She could manage our home all by herself. If only the person who killed had spoken to her she would have managed the situation. But that did not happen.”
Sorrow, then makes way for anger. “He should not live. None who commits a murder has a right to live,” he says of Rajappa, Naveena’s killer. Then a sense of resignation. “But the system tends to let such people go.”