Man Jailed During Emergency Refuses Honour, Gives Minister Memo For Justice

An uneasy silence fell over the Independence Day celebrations in Madhya Pradesh's Damoh on Friday after an 84-year-old man who was imprisoned during the Emergency refused an honour and handed an application to the minister instead.

As the crowd waited for the traditional felicitation of people who were imprisoned under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA), one of the honourees, Santosh Bharti, stood firm.

When Higher Education Minister and district in-charge Inder Singh Parmar stepped forward with Collector Sudhir Kochar to honour him, the 84-year-old refused. Instead, he raised his finger, handed over a memorandum, and walked away from the ceremony.

Behind the act lay a decades-long grievance: Being denied justice after he was declared a tenant in a house he had bought from the housing board.

Speaking later to NDTV, Mr Bharti said, "I am not hungry for respect. For 58 years, we have struggled not for garlands and shawls, but for justice. Whether it was the Congress in power or the BJP, we have remained 'satyagrahis' in the fight for truth. Honour means nothing if the very system denies us our rights."

The octogenarian said he had bought a low-income group house in 1984 and, because he refused to pay a bribe to officials, he was arbitrarily declared a tenant. A demand of Rs 2 lakh followed, then a recovery notice, and even police harassment, he alleged.

Mr Bharti approached a trial court and won not just there but in the High Court as well. The registry of his house, however, still remains incomplete.

"I am old now," he said, his voice breaking. "What will I leave behind for my children? I have begged, folded my hands, even appealed to property officers. Nothing has changed. The order exists, but justice does not."

"I never went to receive honours in my life. My purpose today was not to stand on stage, but to hand over a memorandum and ask for justice. I am the only person in this country who has been jailed three times under MISA, yet I remain ignored," he added.

When asked about Mr Bharti's refusal to accept the honour, Minister Inder Singh Parmar said only, "I don't know, I don't have any information about this."

What Memorandum Said

In his memorandum, Mr Bharti reiterated his demand for justice.

"Today, on 15th August, I am separating myself from this token honour. I don't want it. I am the only man in India who went to jail thrice under MISA... I don't need this honour. I need true justice," he wrote.

The MISA, which was enacted in 1971, gave enforcement agencies broad powers to detain people and search properties without warrants. It was used extensively during the Emergency between 1975 and 1977 and was repealed in 1988

Mr Bharti said that, in 1973, he was jailed alongside Sharad Yadav, who would go on to serve as the president of the Janata Dal (United) for inciting a police revolt. In 1974, he was imprisoned for supporting the railway strike. In 1975, he was sent to jail during the Emergency for his participation, with future Defence Minister George Fernandes, in the Jan Jagran Abhiyan.