50 Years, Rs 33 Pension: Inside 79-Year-Old Woman's Struggle For Justice

In a famous Hindi film, Sunny Deol once thundered in court, "Yanha Insaaf nahi milta, milti hai to bas tareekh pe tareekh, tareekh pe tareekh" (dates after dates, but never justice).

In Gwalior, that dialogue has come alive not in a movie, but in the weary, real-life story of 79-year-old Mithilesh Srivastava, who has been fighting for her rightful pension for half a century.

For fifty years, Mithilesh has received nothing but court summons, new hearing dates, and hollow assurances. Her husband, Shankarlal Srivastava, served the Madhya Pradesh Police faithfully for 23 years before resigning in 1971. He died in 1985. Since then, his widow has been surviving on a provisional pension of just Rs 33 a month.

When Shankarlal died, Mithilesh began the process of claiming her husband's pension, gratuity, and retirement benefits. But her pleas to the department were lost in files, bureaucracy, and indifference.

After waiting years for a response, she finally took the battle to court and won. In 2005, the civil court ruled in her favour. Yet, even after the judgment, the payment never arrived. The department, hiding behind technicalities and "missing documents," continued to delay.

For Mithilesh, time stood still. Her fight for justice outlasted her youth, her husband, and even many of those responsible for her suffering.

When the case came up again before the Gwalior bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, even the judge couldn't help but express disbelief. "This case is older than yours and mine," the judge said.

In the latest hearing, the court ordered that if the directive isn't followed by November, the Superintendent of Police, Sheopur, must appear in person to explain the delay. The court's tone reflected its deep frustration at a system that seems to have forgotten its most basic duty to deliver justice.

It is said that justice delayed is justice denied. For Mithilesh, it has been both. Her case has moved from the civil court to the High Court, through layers of files, officers, and changing governments. Each time, she hoped the next hearing would bring closure. Each time, she got another date.

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