India, July 14 -- A day before her birthday on May 13, doctors at Hinduja Hospital in Khar told Aarika Srivastav's parents that their 14-year-old daughter was brain-dead.

For Aarika's mother Binal, it has become the day she remembers waiting for a miracle that never happened. "Doctors had told us there was only a one percent chance of her survival," she said when HT visited her in her Malad home. "We kept holding on to that. But eventually, we lost her."

Aarika succumbed to her injuries on May 17, a week after a tree crashed onto the autorickshaw that she, her sister Manasvi and friend Harshita Kumar were travelling in. While Manasvi escaped with minor injuries, Aarika and Harshita were critically injured. Harshita survived and is recov...