16 days in coma, 15 surgeries in 11 years -- Gritty Kerala youth finishes LLB

KOLLAM: P Aaromal Gopal was 18 when he met with a two-wheeler accident on the Anchal-Ayur stretch in 2010. A Kerala Law Academy student then, he was returning from the Kottarakkara Ganapathy Temple before leaving for a moot court competition in Bengaluru. His world came tumbling down and he remained in a coma for 16 days. Over the past 11 years, he has undergone 15 surgeries. 

Yet, despite the trauma and the physical hardship, he earned his law degree last year. Interestingly, his mother, Dr P Pushpalatha, who stood by him like a rock, too joined in his legal pursuit. If not for the Covid pandemic, Aaromal would have started his practice at the Punalur court along with his father, G Surendran, an established lawyer. 

The journey has not been easy for Aaromal and his family. The accident occurred when



another two-wheeler rider, who was speaking on his mobile phone, hit Aaromal and left him with severe brain and hand injuries. “I was doing my first semester LLB when the accident occurred. The treatment is not over yet. But now I am looking forward to starting my legal practice,” Aaromal says.

Pushpalatha, a former deputy director with the animal husbandry department, it was a mission to make her son stand on his toes and become a responsible citizen.

Having joined the Kerala Law Academy’s evening course, she has three more semesters remaining. If Aaromal wishes to follow in his father’s footsteps as a lawyer who takes up both civil and criminal cases, his mother is determined to take up criminal cases. Aaromal’s sister, Dr Caroline, is serving as a senior resident at the Kottayam medical college hospital.