Justice delayed: UP man fights 17-year legal battle for innocence over 'clerical error'

Mainpuri: For 62-year-old Raj Vir, who was exonerated on Thursday in a case registered under the Gangsters Act, justice did not come swift.

It came limping, after 17 years, leaving in its trail 22 days of jail, 300 court hearings, lost years, frayed family ties, and a son who had to drop out of school to work as a farm labourer. And all of this, for no crime he has committed but a clerical error that went unchecked for close to two decades.

On August 31, 2008, police named Raj Vir in a case under Gangsters Act, a charge that carried both stigma and severe legal implications. The real accused was 'Ram Vir.' But a Kotwali inspector, in what would prove to be a life-altering blunder, entered the name as 'Raj Vir', his brother.

"My client kept pleading that he had no criminal record. Nobody heard him. He was arrested, jailed for 22 days before getting a bail, and then left to fight the system alone," said Vinod Kumar Yadav, Raj Vir's counsel.

After spending 22 days in jail, Raj Vir secured bail. But that was just the beginning of tale of trials that would see him crisscrossing courtrooms, from Agra to Mainpuri, where the case was transferred in 2012. He attended nearly 300 court hearings over the years.

"He could hardly focus on his family," said Yadav. "His two daughters, one of whom is specially-abled, are now married. His son Gaurav had to drop out of school and now works as a farm labourer."

A man once hopeful and hardworking found himself mired in legal limbo. His savings exhausted, reputation questioned, and family life deeply affected, all for a mistake not his own.

Relief finally arrived on July 24, when Special Judge Swapna Deep Singhal passed an order exonerating Raj Vir. "Due to gross negligence by the police and authorities, an innocent person had to suffer 22 days in prison and had to contest a false case in court for 17 years," the court noted.

For Raj Vir, the court order brings some closure, but no real undoing of what he has lost.

He now spends his days at his Mainpuri home, a little more bent from the weight of the years.

"Justice came," his lawyer said, "but it should not have taken this long. No innocent man should have to beg the system for 17 years."