Kanishka crash: Flight assistant’s mother is still waiting for justice

Twenty-five long and lonely years have passed since young air hostess Shyla Aurora was killed in the Kanishka crash in 1985, but for her octogenarian mother, Sunanda, the wait for justice is far from over.

Shyla had joined Air India as a flight assistant in 1981.

Sunanda, 80, has no expectations from the Canadian inquiry commission report. “I have actually lost faith in the word justice. I can feel the pain in the hearts of the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy,” the West Delhi resident said.

Last year, she met prime minister Manmohan Singh and planning commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia. Both promised help.

“But nothing has happened till date. The only monetary relief I got was from Air India’s insurer, who gave 35,000 US dollars. But no other compensation was given by the government. The Indian government never stood up for victims of that tragedy,” she said, adding, “I live alone with my dog, Poodle, and the only reason I am alive is to secure justice for my daughter. Shyla was 28 when she died. Five years after that my husband, Roshan, died.”

Shyla’s elder sister, Shipra Rana, lives in Vancouver, Canada. “Shipra has been working to get justice for her,” Sunanda, who often sits for hours in Shyla’s room that is full of her photographs, letters, music tapes and posters.

She is now planning to meet  Ahluwalia and civil aviation minister Praful Patel for help.