By Vincent D’Souza | ENS - MYSORE http://newindianexpress.com/states/karnataka/Disability-not-a-barrier-for-him/2013/04/14/article1544257.ece 14th April 2013 08:27 AM
A 53-year-old man whose life has been dotted with miseries and whom justice has eluded for a long time is now testing the election waters as a last resort. Siddaraju, a father of two, who lost both his legs in two separate accidents two decades ago and is yet to get compensation, is contesting from the Chamundeshwari Assembly constituency as an independent. Asked whether he is serious given the current style of politics, pat comes his reply: “Justice is all what I am craving for. I have been the victim of injustice for a long time. I can feel the sufferings of people like me. I want to get elected, serve people and take care of myself and my family.” However, this is not the first time that he is in the election fray. In 2008, he contested from Chamarajanagar against former minister Benki Mahadevu as an independent, and received 3,000 odd votes. Siddaraju, now a resident of Ramabainagar in the city, is an MA, LLB graduate and was leading a happy life working as a supervisor in a quarry in Chamarajanagar, till he lost a leg to a dynamite blast in 1994. He then joined as a temporary D group employee at the University of Mysore. Bad luck struck him again as his other leg had to be amputated after an almirah fell on it at the work place. With no legs, he was removed from the job. Since then he has been mostly unemployed and is depending on the income of his wife who is a group D employee in the Open University. Though he is fighting against both his past employers, he is yet to get justice. After whatever he had got dried up fighting the cases, he decided to become a lawyer, to take up his case. He enrolled for a LLB degree at Sarada Vilas Law College, and got the degree in 2007. “ I could not enrol to practice law. I was told that I will not be able to do the job without legs,” said Siddaraju. He will file his nomination on Wednesday and start campaigning by using his tricycle -- Avinash Shahi MPhil Research Scholar Centre for the Study of Law and Governance Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi India Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
