Someone has to fight for the truth: Kin of Mathura activist who died after 4-month hunger strike

A resident of Shankar Garhi village in Mathura district’s Mant tehsil, Devki Nandan had been on a crusade over the last 13 years against alleged financial irregularities in rural development work in the village, such as construction of toilets under the Swachh Bharat Mission.

The activist had gone on five other hunger strikes before this, demanding an investigation into the work done during the tenures of four ex-pradhans of the village.

On Tuesday, Sharma’s family informed officials about his failing health, following which he was taken to a primary health centre. He was referred to a district hospital but died on the way there. The postmortem report said the cause of death was a heart attack. He is survived by a 16-year-old daughter and his wife.

The son of a UP Irrigation Department engineer, Devki Nandan moved to his village from Mathura city after his father’s death. “He loved this village and wanted to see its development. Initially, he would get agitated and that led to many disputes. Later, he used the Right to Information (RTI) Act frequently to get access to different documents,” said Jitendra, who is a chartered engineer in Ghaziabad.

Notice by The SDM pasted on the temple where he was Fasting. Devki Nandan Sharma, who passed away in Mathura District, while Fast till Death seeking investigation and action for corruption in his district, on Friday, June 14, 2024. (Express Photo by Abhinav Saha). 

Devki Nandan started the hunger strike at a temple, which is part of his house, from February 12. Before this, he prepared a 160-page document, containing correspondence with different government departments since 2012, and sent it to 15 authorities — from the President to the Block Development Officer.

“All these months during the hunger strike, he was only consuming water or lemon water and smoked bidis. He grew very weak and couldn’t speak. But the officials did not care. On June 10, they came to my home and pasted a letter threatening legal action if he does not end the strike,” said his wife Sudha Sharma. “He was very stubborn. He lost everything in fighting for the village all these years. He even sold his five bighas of land for social work. He did not leave anything for me. I do not know how I will survive now with my daughter,” said Sudha, who supported her husband in running a kirana store in the village part-time.

The administration has denied the allegation of not taking action on the activist’s complaints. “Since 2013, his allegations have been investigated about five times. But he was not satisfied. He was also included in the investigation team and himself inspected the toilets in the village, going door to door. He demanded that the investigating team be changed, and we did that as well. But despite this he did not believe it,” said Adesh Kumar, Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of Mant.

Panchayat Ghar of the Village. (Express Photo by Abhinav Saha). 

He added: “This time he gave a memorandum to the DM and said he is going on hunger strike. Along with this, he demanded re-investigation of old cases along with some new cases. He was under our supervision. Our team used to go to meet him. I went to meet him and said that there would be a re-investigation as per his demand. But he said that I should give him in writing that the investigation will be conducted as per his wish. This was not possible for me. We tried several times to get a medical check-up done, but he kept refusing.”

Manish Meena, Mathura Chief Development Officer, said: “We conducted many investigations, but he was not happy. The allegation that he made was not found true during our investigation. We changed the investigating team three or four times, but he was not satisfied.”

Mathura District Magistrate Shailendra Kumar Singh could not be reached over the phone despite multiple attempts. SDM Adesh Kumar said the family will be provided financial support through government schemes and a new investigation will be conducted as “it was his last wish”.

Jitendra said: “Repeated sit-ins and hunger strikes are not anyone’s hobby. If the truth had come out in all these investigations, my brother would not have had to fast unto death. But the officers will not be able to understand this. The concern is that if the life of the common man becomes so cheap, who will raise their voice against corruption?”