A month after her own father tried to kill her, Madhavi discharged from Hyd hospital

Speaking to reporters, Dr Devender Singh, Chief Vascular Surgeon, said, “It was a miraculous recovery."

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Clad in a green and orange salwar kameez, Madhavi sat on a wheelchair, with a cast on her left hand. As the team of doctors briefed the media, she too listened.

The doctors at the Yashoda hospital were clear on one thing, Madhavi who had been attacked on September 19 had made a miraculous recovery. She and her husband Sandeep, an inter-caste couple, had been brutally attacked that day. The attacker was none other than Madhavi's father Manoharachari, who attacked them in broad daylight in the heart of Hyderabad. On Wednesday, Madhavi was discharged from the hospital. She was admitted in a critical condition and had continued to remain serious, even as she was taken off ventilator support.

Speaking to reporters, Dr Devender Singh, Chief Vascular Surgeon, said, “It was a miraculous recovery. She came at the right time and the hospital was equipped with enough infrastructure, so that we could reconstruct blood vessels and nerves successfully.”

When Madhavi was admitted, she was in shock and her haemoglobin was 3 gm%.

“She was shifted to the Operation Theatre within 30 mins after resuscitation, necessary tests and CT scans were done. Her bleeding was stopped and reconstruction of her damaged face, neck and her hand were performed in an 8-hour surgery. After the operation, she made a smooth recovery with the help of the ICU team. Her left, upper limb is saved and will need physiotherapy for full function again. She has a little facial weakness, which will recover over a period of time,” a press note from the hospital stated.

The crime

The police said that Madhavi’s father Manoharachari had called the couple under the pretext of buying new clothes for them near Gokul Theatre in Erragadda, where he took out a sickle from his bag and attacked them.

The incident, which was caught on camera, shook the state, as it showed the accused repeatedly hacking his own daughter even as some onlookers tried to stop him.

The couple was taken to Neelima Hospital by onlookers where Sandeep, who had sustained a deep gash to the cheek, was stabilised and later discharged. Madhavi was shifted to Yashoda Hospital for further treatment. A team of 15 doctors tended to her.

Injuries

Following the incident, doctors had said that multiple surgeries were done; after they controlled the bleeding. They performed a surgery to reconstruct her facial nerve, blood vessels, ear and muscles. Another surgery was done to reconstruct blood vessels, nerve, tendons and muscles, and fix bones in her left hand. The last operation was conducted on her right hand, wherein her tendon and muscles were repaired.

A press release issued by the hospital at the time, stated that there was a deep laceration, measuring 15x5 centimetres, on the left side of her face which had split her ear and left a gash on her neck. There was also profuse bleeding of the carotid artery and multiple veins which were cut along with muscles of the neck, doctors said.

Furthermore, doctors added that there was a near total amputation of her left arm and that her neurovascular bundles had been cut as well as two bones were fractured. They also said that there was a deep laceration on her right wrist, with cut tendons.

The case

Soon after the incident, the police were quick to deny that the murder attempt was motivated by caste. However, Sandeep’s family has maintained that it was clearly a caste-motivated attack. They also accused Madhavi’s mother, Vijayalakshmi, of provoking Manoharachari.

Manoharachari had been arrested and a case had been registered under Section 307 (Attempt to murder) of the IPC and sections of the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Speaking to TNM, a police official from the SR Nagar police station stated that Manoharachari continued to be in jail and was not granted bail.