Saving Sweety: How friends, cops and strangers united to avert a tragedy

On her umpteenth visit to a bank for an education loan, Sweety Kumari gave the manager a piece of her mind. "Be kind," she told him, "to people in need. We too want to get to that chair."
It's one of Shiv Nandan Pal's favourite stories of Sweety. She was just 18 then. The pride in his daughter is apparent even through the strain as he squats in the hospital corridor, waiting for the next update.
"Doctor, could she move her hands today?"
"Is she still in pain?"
"Will she fully recover?"
Pal and Lalmani Devi, Sweety's mother, keep going back with the same questions, probing away for any information about Sweety.
Many more come and ask about her, faces unfamiliar for the parents, but not for Sweety. They are her people, and this is her world - one that pulled her back from the precipice as she lay bleeding on a cold, hard road on New Year's Eve, knocked out by a hit-&-run driver. It happened on the same night as the horrific Kanjhawala car-dragging incident. But fortunately for Sweety, she survived - with a lot of help.
Friends are family
When the accident happened near his daughter's rented house in Greater Noida, Pal was at his home in a Patna village (Daniawan), more than 1,000km away. He would reach only the next day but didn't have to forage for support. It was available in abundance - friends, teachers, college mates, strangers moved by their appeal to save her, had all joined efforts to save Sweety.
"Suna tha ghar se door dost hi apka parivar hote hai. Ab dekh bhi liya (I had heard when you are away from home, friends become family. Now, I've seen it too)," says Ashirwad Mani Tripathi, Sweety's senior from college. Ashirwad and Karan Pandey, who is from Sweety's batch in their final-year BTech course, were the first to reach Kailash hospital, where Sweety was admitted after the accident. "Karsoni and Anganba were also there. They had minor injuries, but Sweety was unconscious. We were told she had serious head injuries and several fractures," says Karan. On December 31, Sweety, her flatmate Karsoni and Anganba had stepped out to collect bricks for a bonfire they had planned for a small New Year celebration at home. The car hit them when they were walking back. "A hard knock threw me off my feet and I blacked out for a few seconds," says Karsoni Dong, Sweety's flat mate and junior at college, who was with her when the accident happened. "We did not see the car. Others told us it was a white Santro. When I regained consciousness, I saw blood oozing from Sweety's ears. I checked her heartbeat. We were driven to hospital by a kind passerby." It was the worst and best of humanity on the same night. At the hospital, the first responders were their close friends. And they were panicking. Sweety was bleeding from her ears and unconscious. Doctors said she had brain trauma injuries. "We had to contact her parents, but her phone was password-locked," says Ashirwad. Around 11pm, nearly two hours after the accident, they reached Pal. But the surgery couldn't wait, and doctors needed consent. "That was the toughest part, since her parents were not here and the operation had to be done immediately. We signed the form," says Ashirwad. Then came the challenge of paying the hospital costs. The first appeal for contributions went out from Ashirwad and Karan while Shivam Singh, Karan and Sweety's batchmate, pursued the police case against the hit-&-run driver (who has not been found since no CCTV footage to track the car was available), filing a complaint. From students he knew, Ashirwad collected Rs 40,000. The next day, Karan and others went from classroom to classroom, appealing for contributions. Another student, Prateek Mishra, approached students at the college canteen for donations of Rs 500 each. "Not just Sweety's batchmates, juniors and teachers contributed too. We collected Rs 60,000," says Karan. But they would need a lot more. By January 3, Sweety still in coma, the bill had run up to Rs 2.5 lakh. This was beyond her parents' means. That's when the social media posts went out. WhatsApp to Insta and LinkedIn, and on a college group called 'GNIOT confessions', where an emotional plea urged the fraternity to help "one of our family".
The tougher the challenge seemed, the stronger the support grew. Pankaj Singh, head of the admissions cell at Sweety's college, Greater Noida Institute of Technology, said, "Teachers and the college staff went into mission mode to collect money for Sweety's treatment. We were all motivated seeing how students stood like a wall behind Sweety and her family." It helped that everyone had a reason to like Sweety. "Seniors dote on her. She is our 'ladli' (the apple of our eyes)," says Ashirwad, who works with a tech firm in Greater Noida. Friends adore her for her spunk. "I'll give you an example," adds Ashirwad. "At a college sports event in November 2021, Sweety was to participate in a relay race, but she refused. Eventually, we managed to convince her to run. Her team won silver!" Beyond the college circle, her story - carried by social media appeals and newspaper reports - struck a chord. The gumption of the girl from rural Patna, a farm worker's daughter, making her own path far from home as she pursued a degree and a job that would give her and her parents a better life, was relatable to many. "Here was a young woman trying to build her career. While talking to her parents, we learnt about the family's humble background. They sent their daughter to achieve something big in life. We had to do something that went beyond policing. Kuchh cases aap ke dil ko chhoo jate hain (some cases touch your heart)," says police commissioner Laxmi Singh, who asked cops in Noida to donate a day's salary for Sweety's treatment. This immediately raised Rs 10 lakh. The total collection has since reached Rs 29 lakh. "We had initially set a target of Rs 5 lakh, but the students themselves pooled Rs 7 lakh. All of this was a surprise," smiles Ashirwad. The smiles have been returning since January 4 when Sweety came out of coma. On January 8, she spoke, asking where her phone was. When she remembered her password, some of her friends cried happy tears.
For now, Sweety remains under close observation of neurosurgeons at Kailash hospital. "After her brain surgery on January 1, she has been recovering well. She has started speaking a bit and recognises her family. Once she is more stable, further treatment involving orthopaedists will continue," says Dr BK Sharma, the hospital's director. Sweety has been under neurosurgeon Dr Alok Dubey's care. "We had sought permission to begin Sweety's treatment and prepare for her orthopaedic surgery, but doctors have asked for some more time," says Dr Bharat Durgia, orthopaedist at the hospital. "For the surgery, anaesthesia will have to be administered. Her brain injuries have to heal before that," he adds. The 22-year-old final-year student has a fractured tibia and fibula on her left leg, for which a surgical procedure is needed. Her right leg has a fracture in the foot, which will be managed with a plaster. In her academic calendar, she could miss a year. Final semester exams for her batch began on January 6. However, the management at GNIOT, where she studies BTech in electronic communication, will refer her case to Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University. "Sweety has been a bright student, but as an institute, we are bound by the rules of the university. If the university deems it fit, it can organise a special exam for her when she is fit to write it. Else, she will have to appear next time," says Dhiraj Gupta, director, GNIOT. For Pal, that's a worry for later. "She's alive because of her friends. All this... the money, the support... was beyond my imagination. My daughter is lucky that her friends and so many strangers have walked up to us to support her," he says with a quaver that expresses stress, gratitude and relief at the same time.