New Delhi: A 51-year-old woman who slipped into coma after police broke up a meeting of yoga guru Baba Ramdev here in early June died on Monday after being hospitalised for 114 days.
Raj Bala, who suffered a crippling spinal injury on the night of June 4 at the Ramlila ground here, passed away at 10.25 am at the GB Pant Hospital following a cardiac arrest, doctors said.
She was the most seriously injured among the 100 Ramdev supporters who suffered a variety of wounds after Delhi Police used batons and fired tear gas to disperse the thousands from the ground.
Rakesh Malik, the dead woman`s daughter-in-law, told a news agency that her mother-in-law`s condition has been deteriorating in recent days.
Distraught and angry, she blamed police for the demise of Raj Bala, who lived in Gurgaon adjoining Delhi.
"It happened because of the police...We all know on whose authority police took action. The whole country knows why this happened," she added.
Rakesh Malik said the family would get together in a few days from now and decide whether they should file a suit against the administration.
But she made it clear that they were not hungry for compensation money.
"We don`t want any compensation. We wanted our mother, can they give her back?" she asked.
She expressed disgust that the authorities left the elderly woman to fend for herself after reducing her to a cripple.
"Four months have gone by, what have the governments done? We didn`t even get a word of sympathy from the government," she said.
Raj Bala was one of the thousands who had thronged the Ramlila ground at Ramdev`s fast against corruption when police barged in.
Ramdev was subsequently pushed out of Delhi. Delhi Police denied using batons and said Raj Bala was injured in a stampede.
Now on a `padayatra` in Uttar Pradesh, Ramdev condoled Raj Bala`s death.
"It is an irreparable loss to the whole organisation, agitation and nation," Ramdev said in a statement
"It is the ultimate sacrifice... Her sacrifice will not go in vain and millions of her brothers and sisters will continue to fight for the cause for which she sacrificed (her life)," he added.
IANS
