After 29 Years, UP Postman gets Justice

Wrongly Accused of Pocketing Rs 57.60, Postman Umakant Mishra Remained Suspended From His Job for Nearly 30 Years.  He Retired 3 Years Ago & Was Absolved of the Charge last month.

     Some times justice delayed is not merely justice denied but downright cruel.  Wrongly accused of Pocketing Rs 57.60 Postman Umakanth Mishra remained suspended from his government job for nearly 30 years.  He retired three years ago and was absolved of the charge in a court last month,  but he remains a shattered man.  Umakandh Mishra worked in a Post office in Harijinder Nagar area of Kanpur.  Department authorities at the postoffice handed mishra Rs 697.60 in Cash to distribute as money order: of the total Rs 697.60, Umakanth distrubuted Rs 300 and the rest he claimed to have returned to his senior colleagues.  But they accused him of stealing Rs 57.60 and lodged an FIR against him. 

      That was on July 13, 1984. A case was registered against him for stealing Rs 57, and he was promptly suspended.  The Police booked him for criminal breach of trust.  It took nearly 350 hearings and 29 years for Umakant to prove himself innocent,  but the loss he suffered in this period was enormous.  The Judgement was delivered by a metropolitan magistrate on November 25.  Umakant wept when he was approached for an interview struggling to find words, Umakanth said  "I retired three years ago and remained suspended for nearly 26 years.  I have no idea what to say or do."

     His wife Geeta said " I am relieved and happy with the verdict, but if we'd got justice at the right time,  our children's career wouldn't have got ruined.  We lived with the stigma and financial trouble".  " We lost everything,  borrowed money for our livelihood,  children's education and marriage,"  she said. "Without regular income, we had trouble arranging for the education and marriage of our children.  We sought donation to marry off our two daughters. Since we could not educate our children,  our son Ganga has an insecure job.

Source By: Times Of India( Times Nation) on 03 rd December 2013.