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Melbourne’s Indian community is mourning the loss of five of its members, including Justice of the Peace Pratibha Sharma, who was killed along with her young daughter and husband in the Daylesford beer garden crash.
Pratibha Sharma, 44, her partner Jatin Chugh, 30, and her daughter Anvi, 9, have been identified as three of the victims of the Daylesford crash.
Those who knew Sharma have described her as an “esteemed member of the Indian community”.
Sharma, 44, her daughter Anvi, 9, and partner Jatin Chugh, 30, were killed in the crash at the Royal Daylesford Hotel when a BMW ploughed through the packed beer garden.
They were enjoying a holiday with family friends Tarneit man Vivek Bhatia, 38, and his 11-year-old son Vihaan, who died instantly at the crash, while Bhatia’s 36-year-old wife, Ruchi, and six-year-old son Abeer were taken to hospital with serious injuries.
Tarneit man Vivek Bhatia Bhaji, 38, and his son Vihaan, 11, were both killed in the Daylesford crash. His wife Ruchi Bhatia, 36, and their six-year-old son, Abeer, were injured.
Sharma’s close friend of more than six years, Maddhu Kapoor, who celebrated the Indian rituals of Karva Chauth with both families involved in the crash barely a week ago, said Sharma was a big figure in the community.
“She was a well-known person in the community and it’s a very bitter tragedy for all of us,” Kapoor said, adding that Sharma’s daughter Anvi was gorgeous, normal kid.
“[She was a] loving, caring, very beautiful girl. [A] very beautiful family, both mother and daughter. They were always very warm and very kind. Really lovely people,” said Kapoor, who added Chugh was also an extremely caring person.
Sharma ran for Victorian parliament and local council and, according to friends, was involved in multiple charities in the communities. In 2020, she joined the Australian Sikh Support as a volunteer to help deliver food and grocery boxes to people in quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gurjit Singh, secretary of the Australian Sikh Support, said Sharma was an extremely community-minded person.
“She would help people, even when she didn’t know them,” said Singh. “She was very helpful and very dedicated to helping other people.”
Tanvi Mor, who was a fellow Justice of the Peace and member of the Indian community, said the wider Indian community were reeling from the tragic and unexpected loss of life.
“It’s a big loss together because the entire family, as well as the other two members so five Indian members, our community members, losing their lives is absolutely shocking. Very shocking to the Indian community,” Mor said.
“She [Sharma] was heavily involved in the Indian community through various events…[and] actively working for charities and different nonprofit organisations as well. Lovely, lovely woman with beautiful smile. She was absolutely gorgeous, gorgeous [and] her little daughter as well.”
On Monday night, hundreds of members of the wider Daylesford community turned out for a vigil on for the five tragic deaths, further injured, and those impacted by the event.
Jude Brown, a local who came to mourn the loss said: “We’re always trying to welcome them here and then something like this happens.
“We’re just feeling for their families in our town and it’s just it’s all we can do. Just to embrace them in this way … the town cares about them.”
with David Estcourt
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