A farmer from Sultanpur district in Uttar Pradesh who was injured in an accident involving an AICC-owned jeep carrying Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi when he was going to file nomination papers from Amethi in the 1991 general election has been seeking compensation for 17 years but the AICC is reluctant to pay him. In 2001, after a decade of legal battle, the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Sultanpur, awarded Rs 22,000 plus 10 per cent interest since 1991 to Dharamraj Mishra of Chandaur village. It was to be recovered from Treasurer, All India Congress Committee (AICC). As compensation was not paid, Vth Additional District & Sessions Judge, Sultanpur, issued a recovery certificate in March 2002 directing the Chief Secretary of Delhi to recover Rs 44,128 from the AICC Treasurer. Mishra is, however, still fighting a battle to recover the compensation. “I am sure the Congress party has crores of rupees. My total money will come to around Rs 1 lakh, which is pittance for them. In the last 17 years, I must have spent at least Rs 50,000 in fighting this case, while I don’t have money to even feed my family now. Why are they doing this to a poor man like me?” Mishra told The Sunday Express. He said he was yet to recover from the leg injury sustained in the accident. AICC Treasurer Motilal Vora said he was not aware of the case. “The nature of Rajivji was such that in such cases he would ensure medical relief and financial help to the affected person on the spot. I don’t know about this particular case,” Vora said. As AICC had not responded to court notices, the award was an ex-parte judgment. According to Mishra, 56, he was part of the crowd gathered to see Rajiv Gandhi as he came to Sultanpur district headquarters in 1991. Congress MLA Moid Ahmed was driving the open jeep carrying Rajiv and Sonia. The jeep ran over Mishra’s legs. While the motorcade moved on, some people took him to the hospital. Mishra argued in the court later that the MLA had got his medical records destroyed. He was given some medicine and discharged after three days. He told The Sunday Express that the police had also refused to register a case, forcing him to approach the court. According to Mishra’s lawyer Shiv Pratap Dwivedi, although Moid Ahmed, the driver, was also a party in the case, he was let off as the AICC was the owner of the jeep. Although Mishra said there was no fracture of the bone, there was a big swelling in legs, which took a long time to heal. “It continued to hurt as I could not work in my field. I could not provide education to my six children as it was so difficult to make the ends meet. You cannot imagine what kind of mental and physical ordeal I have gone through all these years,” he said.
