After Cottonian’s accidental death in Brisbane, sister fights for justice

Bengaluru: Tears spill down Chaithanya Srinivas’ eyes and wash down her cheeks but she quickly rubs them away. She is angry. Her younger brother who had gone to Brisbane, Australia, for studies died in a road accident there in Jan.
“He died for no fault of his. That is what makes me angry. Arjun was crossing the road after the lights turned green for pedestrians.A car jumped the red light and hit him. He was just 32,” said Chaithanya.
Chaithanya’s anger is at the system in Australia that is apathetic to what happened to her brother, has insufficient safety protocols for pedestrians, and goes soft on traffic rules. She wants a reform that will ensure the safety of other s now. The techie-turned-fine arts teacher is fighting a long-drawn battle with the support of her brother’s friends.
Her brother Arjun Srinivas — an alumnus of Bishop Cotton Boys’ School, the Hindu College, and Madras School of Economics — worked at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements before heading to Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in May 2022, where he pursued research on how social media platforms shape news consumption.
On Jan 19, around 8.30pm, Arjun was walking home for dinner, when he was hit by a car, driven by a 20 year old woman, at Kelvin Grove Road. He was admitted to Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital with critical head injuries. He passed away on Jan 27 and his body was brought to Bengaluru on Feb 13.
Arjun, whose 69-year-old mother and two sisters live in the city, was an outgoing, popular and promising student right from his Cottons days, where he was the Thomas house captain. “He was dynamic, passionate and committed,” recalled Jean Burgess, a professor at QUT. “During his time here, he engaged not only with his own team, but was popular among other researchers. His death is a loss to the intellectual community internationally as well. He had completed a three-month internship with the ABC YouTube news desk and was to visit Amsterdam for an international exchange programme soon,” she said.
“Chinnikka, that’s what he used to call me. He had always dreamed of doing his PhD and jumped at the opportunity to spend three years combining his loves of learning, news and data. He wanted me to come and see the place where he was. And when I went there, all I could see was him lying in coma, never to know that I was there beside him,” recalled Chaithanya.