79-Year-Old Woman's 50-Year Battle for Justice: The Story of a Rs 33 Pension and Endless Court Dates

Mithilesh's five-decade battle for justice has outlived her husband and her youth.

Bhopal:

The famous Hindi film dialogue, "Yanha Insaaf nahi milta, milti hai to bas tareekh pe tareekh, tareekh pe tareekh" (only dates after dates, never justice), has manifested in the real-life ordeal of 79-year-old Mithilesh Srivastava from Gwalior, who has been fighting for her rightful pension for half a century.

For 50 long years, Mithilesh has received nothing but court summons, hearing dates, and unfulfilled promises. Her husband, Shankarlal Srivastava, dedicated 23 years of service to the Madhya Pradesh Police before his resignation in 1971. Following his death in 1985, his widow has been subsisting on a meager provisional pension of just Rs 33 per month.

After Shankarlal's passing, Mithilesh initiated the process to claim her husband's pension, gratuity, and retirement benefits. However, her appeals to the department vanished within a labyrinth of files, bureaucracy, and apathy.

After years of waiting fruitlessly for a response, she finally took her case to court and won. The civil court ruled in her favor in 2005. Yet, even following this judgment, the payment never materialized. The department continued to delay, hiding behind technicalities and claims of "missing documents."

For Mithilesh, time has frozen. Her pursuit of justice has outlasted her youth, her husband, and even many of those responsible for her predicament.

When the case appeared before the Gwalior bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, even the judge expressed astonishment, remarking, "This case is older than yours and mine."

During the most recent hearing, the court ordered that if the directive isn't followed by November, the Superintendent of Police, Sheopur, must personally appear to explain the prolonged delay. The court's language reflected profound frustration with a system that seems to have neglected its fundamental duty to deliver justice.

The adage states that justice delayed is justice denied. For Mithilesh, it has been both. Her case has progressed from civil court to High Court, through countless files, officers, and changing governments. Each time, she hoped the next hearing would bring resolution. Each time, she received only another date.

In these 50 years, governments have changed, generations have passed, yet one elderly woman continues to wait not for charity, but for what is rightfully hers.