Jageshwar Prasad Awadhiya, 83.
In 1986, he was accused of taking a bribe of 100 rupees while working as a bill assistant in MP Roadways. He always maintained his innocence.
After 39 years of legal battle, the Chhattisgarh High Court acquitted him. He is free now, but is this justice when the process itself became harsher than the charge?
He was suspended from 1988 to 1994, then transferred. He worked on half salary, with no promotions or increments. His children’s education suffered; his wife, under constant stress, passed away. “I was known for honesty… but everything was destroyed,” he says. Even after retirement, he was denied pension. To survive, he worked as a school guard and did odd jobs. Court hearings consumed both his youth and old age.
Now, he says he has no strength to fight another case against the state govt for his pending dues and pensions. He only requests some money to repair his house.
This is the same country where a Chief Justice left a Bharatanatyam performance multiple times to ensure a bench is urgently formed for Teesta Setalvad’s bail hearing, and where the court opened at night to save a terrorist from the noose.
Courtesy: The Skin Doctor
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How Indian Judiciary Travels
How India Travels
