Mumbai, Apr 25 The wife of a man who allegedly committed suicide by jumping off the Atal Setu sea bridge has moved the Bombay High Court after three civic bodies refused to issue a death certificate citing a lack of jurisdiction.
Sunaina Karuturi, the petitioner, claimed that the municipal corporations of Uran, Navi Mumbai and Panvel told her that the death did not take place in their jurisdictions.
Srinivas Karuturi, her husband, left their residence in Dombivli in Thane district on July 23, 2024 in his car. The vehicle was found abandoned on Atal Setu the next day, and CCTV footage showed him jumping off the bridge.
The woman first approached the Uran municipal corporation for a death certificate, but the civic body said it had no jurisdiction where the death took place. She received the same reply from Navi Mumbai and Panvel corporations.
The Atal Bihari Vajpayee Sewri–Nhava Sheva Atal Setu is the country's longest sea bridge (21.8 km) connecting Mumbai to Navi Mumbai.
The absence of death certificate was causing her "extreme hardship and mental distress", the woman's petition said.
"The inaction and negligence on the part of the authorities is unjustified, arbitrary, and violative of the petitioner's fundamental rights", it said, adding that the petitioner was facing severe financial difficulties and was compelled to depend entirely on her aged mother and members of her extended family.
"This continued denial of her husband's death certificate has stripped the petitioner of her financial independence and dignity," the petition added.
A bench headed by Justice Ravindra Ghuge is expected to hear the plea next week.
