Discharged from hospital, ATM attack victim recalls ordeal

‘Disappointed that the police still haven’t caught the assailant’

BANGALORE - 21.12.2013 : Jyothi Uday, who was attacked inside an ATM kiosk near Corporation Circle in Bangalore on November 19, 2013, being brought before the media by Dr. N. K. Venkataramana, vice-chairperson of the hospital, and team of Doctors, in Bangalore on December 21, 2013. Photo: K. Murali Kumar.

“I want to go play with my daughter once I go home,” said Jyothi Uday, the woman who was attacked at an ATM kiosk at Corporation Circle a month ago, soon after being discharged from BGS Global Hospital on Saturday.

Ms. Jyothi walked slowly, holding on to the doctors for support, and managed a smile as she sat down to address the presspersons gathered at the hospital. She was teary-eyed however, when she recalled the gruesome incident of November 19.

“I left for work as usual and stopped at the ATM, from where I have been withdrawing cash for many years. When I was inside, someone came in suddenly. My first thought was that he had come to load the ATM machine. But when he started rolling down the shutter, I got a little scared. He came in and menacingly urged me not to scream and asked me to hand over all the cash. I explained how I only had some money for my daughter’s school fees. That’s when he caught hold of my neck and kept saying

‘sayisbidtini, sayisbiditini’ (I will kill you).”

The bank employee lost consciousness when the assailant attacked her with a machete. “After a while, I regained consciousness…My first thought was to inform my branch manager and wanted to get out of the ATM. I could hear voices outside the closed shutter and with my left hand, I started banging. I kept saying please help me,” she said.

Good Samaritans

The victim remembered how two persons asked for her number and her husband’s phone number before hailing an autorickshaw for her. “I don’t remember who those people were but I am very grateful to them,” she said.

Ms. Jyothi expressed her keenness to get back to work as manager in the service branch of Corporation Bank on Mission Road here.

She said her willpower and the doctors’ assurance at the hospital helped her through several days of intense treatment.

She expressed gratitude to Corporation Bank for their emotional and financial support.

She was disappointed that her assailant was yet to be caught. “No one even wondered why an ATM shutter had been rolled down for so long. With the CCTV camera footage identifying the assailant, the police should have nabbed him by now. Justice should be done. What happened to me could happen to anyone,” she said.