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India - New Delhi

 

India - Court Cases of Elderly India Women - Long Delays

Legal Literacy & Support Needs - Marginalization - Rights

 

India: Grey Area in Justice Delivery

By Swapna Majumdar

* In Delhi, an old litigant dies after fighting a case
for 20 years; two heirs who inherit the case also die
in the course of numerous hearings extended over the
subsequent16 years.
* In Amroha, Uttar Pradesh, after being physically and
mentally tortured for 26 years by her husband and his
family, an elderly lady succumbs while waiting for
justice.
* In Kolkata, after waiting for 37 years to be tried
on murder charges, a 75-year-old is finally released
as the witnesses and investigating officer are no
more.


Almost 10 years after a ruling by the Supreme Court of
India directing speedy disposal of cases involving
senior citizens, justice continues to remain elusive
for the elderly. In 1999, the Supreme Court had laid
down guidelines "to identify and dispose of matters in
which persons above 65 years of age are involved on
priority basis" and communicated them to all the High
Courts. Yet, little has been done to hasten the
process despite a rise over the past decade in the
number of disputes involving the elderly over
property, pension, insurance policies and family
matters. 

Today in India a whopping 26 million cases are pending
in the subordinate courts, 3.5 million in the various
high courts and 0.3 million in the Supreme Court as of
December 2005. These disturbing figures, revealed in
2006 after a petition was filed under the Right to
Information Act 2005, indicate just how difficult it
is to seek justice.

Although just how many of these respondents are senior
citizens is not known, the numbers are enough for
non-governmental organisations working for the elderly
to believe that justice delayed for those above 65 is
as good as justice denied. According to the 2001
Census, the population of those aged 60 and above is
76.62 million and is expected to touch 100 million by
end of the decade.

"More than numbers, it is their rights and dignity
that we are interested in. The old are already
marginalised and it is quite distressing to see them
wait endlessly for justice. Many of them are not
educated and are not aware of their rights and get
taken for a ride. We try to protect their rights and
guide them in whatever way we can," points out Mathew
Cherian, Executive Director, HelpAge India, an NGO
fighting for the rights of the elderly.

But a majority of the 44 million elderly women,
especially widows, are reluctant to seek guidance and
end up losing all their savings, property and assets
in fighting court cases because of their legal
illiteracy, says Dr V. Mohini Giri, Chairperson, Guild
of Service (GOS), an NGO working for women's
empowerment. "What is worrying is that with
feminisation of the graying population, the percentage
of women who have no or little legal literacy will
also increase. When we examined the needs of this
vulnerable group, we realised legal literacy was an
important way to empower them. This way, if they need
to go to court they will have some understanding of
their rights and won't be taken for a ride," contends
Giri, who also heads the War Widows Association.

The GOS, which runs two homes for widows in Vrindavan,
U.P., will conduct legal literacy camps for its
inmates in the next couple of months. It is also
instituting a bureau for older persons to reach out to
needy elderly women since NGOs can mediate and bring
about an out-of-court reconciliation and save senior
citizens from long, expensive and emotionally draining
litigation.

According to Giri, the elderly are not averse to
counselling, but shy away from getting courts to
settle what are essentially personal or family
disputes. The objective of the bureau is to give women
a platform where their voices can be heard and to help
them with counselling and legal help so that women
like Reema Kapoor (name changed) are not forced to
commit suicide.

Kapoor, 58, committed suicide after being pressurised
by a property dealer to return a loan. Despite being
harassed and threatened with dispossession of her
house, Kapoor didn't want to file a case because she
was afraid it would take years for a verdict and her
embarrassment would become public. Instead she
preferred to end her life.

However, for retired government official, S.K. Das,
64, the anger of being duped has increased his
determination to fight till the bitter end even if it
means going to court. When Das and his wife read an
advertisement inviting senior citizens to invest in a
residential complex to be run by a society on a
no-profit-no-loss basis, it seemed like just what they
were looking for. But after putting in their life
savings to buy a flat in Greater NOIDA, Das was
shocked to find out that the builder was channeling
the money into his own private business instead of
providing the facilities promised.

Das reveals that he and about 1,500 other senior
citizens have been duped, as many of their sale deeds
have not been registered. "The average age of the
persons who bought flats here is between 70-75. We all
came because the society promised us facilities
including a doctor who would visit every day. But
nothing was provided. Instead the money given by us
was misappropriated," he contends.

After they got no relief from the police and state
government authorities, Das and other members of the
Apartment Owners Association sought legal guidance
from HelpAge.

"How many senior citizens can continue to pursue cases
after a certain age unless their children or someone
else assists them? The biggest problem is that the
elderly don't have many people to look after them.
With children migrating or living in another city, how
fair is to expect the elderly, especially women, to
keep running to the courts? There is a pressing need
for fast track courts for senior citizens," says Dr
Kalyan Bagchi, 86, President, Society for
Gerontological Research.

The huge swell in the volume of litigation has
prompted even President of India Pratibha Patil to
comment at a recent seminar on judicial reforms that
the agonising delay had "rendered the common man's
knock on the doors of justice a frustrating
experience". Experts believe that, at the current
speed, it may take the lower courts 124 years to clear
the backlog. While a parliamentary panel is examining
whether a timeframe can be fixed for the disposal of
cases, senior citizens are hoping that at least this
decision will come within their lifetime.





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