The parents of Priyadarshini Patil, who was found dead in the Naviluteertha dam in Belagavi district recently, have told the police that she was upset about the policies of the Australian government regarding childcare policies. The narrative runs parallel to the theme of the Rani Mukherjee starrer Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway.
Retired professor S.S. Desai and Shibha of Dharwad have told the police that their daughter had decided to end her life after her children were taken over by the Australian government under the strict childcare laws.
Her efforts in bringing her children to India had failed too, due to those laws. Feeling depressed, she left her adopted country on August 18. She was found dead three days later.
After her engineering studies, Priyadarshini married Lingaraj Patil who hailed from Kalyan Nagar in Dharwad. They were settled in Sydney. The couple had two children: a son Amartya Patil and a daughter Aparajita, both Australian citizens owing to their birth there.
According to Prof Desai, Amartya was ill for sometime and was admitted to hospital. However, Priyardarshini found that the healthcare service in the hospital was deficient and filed a complaint against the doctors.
However, the Australian government agencies did not accept the claim. They in turn said that the fault lay with the couple. They alleged that the Patils had not taken proper care of their children. They also went ahead and took custody of the children.
After alighting from the aircraft in Bengaluru airport, Priyadarshini did not go to her parents’ home in Dharwad. Instead, she went to Hubballi and stopped at a courier company office. She sent off her bags to her parent’s address.
The bag contained her clothes, jewellery, and some cash. It contained a letter that indicated that she was very sad and depressed about the developments in Australia. She also indicated that she was proceeding towards Gokak. But she chose to go to Munavalli near Saundatti in Belagavi district.
Her parents who found the letter the next day, began frantically searching for her in Gokak. But they were unsuccessful. When they approached the police, they heard of an unidentified female body in the Malaprabha and rushed to the spot. They were shocked to find their daughter’s body there.
Her husband Lingaraj Patil returned to attend her final rites. “The children could not accompany him owing to legal issues and because of the fact that she had carried their passports with her. The children’s documents are with her parents in Dharwad now. We will be forwarding them to Australia after consulting the Indian embassy,” said a police officer.
Iresh Anchatgeri, former Mayor, who is related to Prof Desai, said he would ask Pralhad Joshi, Union Minister, to take up the matter with the Australian government.
