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The Rediff Special/ The struggle for justice

A house for Mr Jagadan

D Jose in Thiruvananthapuram

Jagadan had won the battle he waged against injustice and administrative apathy. Yet, he was a little sad, a little uncertain, a little scared - will life ever be normal again for him and his family?

Touchy scenes were witnessed on Thursday as Jagadan and his family - wife and two minor children - prepared to leave the shed they had erected outside the state secretariat three years back. Cops shook hands with Jagadan, shopkeepers from the neighbourhood said farewell, and fellow protestors wished the family luck.

The rickety shed, that was home to the family ever since they were hounded out of their house by their landlord's relatives, had become a symbol of a poor man's fight against injustice. Just about everyone - the shopkeepers, government employees and the cops on duty - sympathised with Jagadan. Yet, it took him 1,246 days to win a life back for himself and his family.

Jagadan's travails started in January 1996, when he decided to purchase 14 cents of land near Varkala in Thiruvananthapuram district.

Jagadan built a house on the land for which he paid an advance to the owner. However, some relatives of the owner objected to the deal and secured a stay against the sale of the land.

When Jagadan got the stay vacated, the landlord's relatives attacked him and his wife, looted his house and molested his 14-year-old daughter.

Dishoused even before he could start a life in his new home, Jagadan first stayed with a friend, but as the attacks continued he erected a shed in front of the state secretariat and moved in with his family.

That was March 10,1997 - the beginning of a long struggle that would deprive his children of education and force one of them to take up manual labour to support the family. The girl, in fact, was put in a destitute home - the shed was not considered safe for her.

Jagadan spent the three years petitioning just about every government department, every minister and any leader he came across.

Finally, it was his letter to the President and the chief justice that set the ball rolling. While the President wrote to the state chief secretary and asking him look into Jagadan's case, the chief justice directed the director general of police to book the guilty.

The family has now been given five cents of land at Kadakampally village on the outskirts of the state capital, while those responsible for driving Jagadan out his house, including three policemen, have been booked.

The main accused in the case, who had managed to escape to the Gulf, has been brought back with the help of Interpol and he is currently in judicial custody.

Jagadan is happy with the outcome of his struggle. He only wishes that some other people, similarly wronged, had the resolve and the staying power of his family.

However, he is not too sure how the future is going to unfold. He does not know where the money would come from to build a hut on the new plot. He is also worried about his daughter, now of marriageable age.

"I am too old to take up a job. It would be of great help if my daughter could get a job," he told rediff.com. "I am too tired to take up another struggle."

The Rediff Specials

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