Justice denied, Varanasi man threatens to self-immolate in Delhi

By Kanika Rangray

New Delhi: With an expression of lost hope and tears streaming down his eyes, Bholanath Jaiswal asks for help by inquiring if his story would be told in the media – maybe then the government would pay heed to those numerous letters he sent keeping his firm faith in justice.

"I will immolate self in front of Rashtrapati Bhawan if I do not get justice soon," this is what he believes is the only course left to him as he spoke to NewsGram. Bholanath aka Krishnakanth Jaiswal, hails from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh and deals in fertilizers.

He had sent five letters to the President since June 22 this year and all of them met with the same reply:

Dear Mr. Jaiswal,

Your letter to the President dated ……. in which you had requested a meeting with him, has been received.

Due to other previous appointments, the President is unable to grant your request. You may send your letter again at another time, through post.

Yours sincerely,
Rajneesh, IAS
Private Secretary to the President of India

Bholanath appealed to the President after he faced disappointment at all other doors of justice.

Bholanath had got license for his business from Agra, Uttar Pradesh and after that he had rented a shop and a warehouse. The landlord, Ganesh Vishwakarma, used to frequently ask for loan from Bholanath, sometimes Rs. 10,000-Rs. 50,000, which he used to return on time.

On the eve of his daughter's marriage on July 25, 1996 Ganesh took a loan of more than two lakh from Bholanath, which hasn't been returned till date. Due to this unfortunate incident, Bholanath was unable to get his children admitted to school.

He took his appeal to the village panchayat head, where Ganesh insulted him saying, "I won't return your money at any cost. Do whatever you want to do." The panchayat head in turn advised Bholanath to file an FIR with the police station, which he did in the Cholapur police station.

The entire judicial process went from July to September, during which Bholanath had been called upon for signatures by the Varanasi District head 12 times. As the process continued, the case had reached the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and on July 3, 1997 Bholanath wrote a letter to the Prime Minister's office. In reply it was stated that a letter was being written to the concerned police authorities to get him back his money.

When no action was taken Bholanath wrote a letter to then President Shankar Dayal Sharma on July 12, 1997. After that he has been repeatedly writing letters to the various authorities to appeal for justice starting from his letter to President K. R. Narayan on June 20, 2000, to the Home Minister and then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on August 12, 2003, to Minister of state of home affairs Shriprakash Jaiswal on Feburary 11, 2008, I. K. Gujral on August 4, 2008, and to the then President Pratibha Patil on March 10, 2008.

But the orders of even the Presidents have not been paid heed to and Bholanath till date keeps knocking the doors of law to get justice.

Has it really come to the stage where a common man keeps his faith in the judiciary for more than a decade only to see it break in front of his eyes, where he resolves to burn himself, with tears running continuously believing that the fire from his funeral pyre might give light to justice?