Neel (24), a final year student of Mithibai Law College, doesn’t believe in equal justice for all anymore. “Only a few people in this country get justice. For others, the cases just drag on,” he says. Neel should know. Five years after his mother, tribal rights activist Navleen Kumar, was stabbed to death at Nallasopara, the trial is yet to start against the accused and charges have not been framed yet, says Neel. Navleen, who had dared to protest against the land mafia usurping tribal-owned land in Vasai-Virar region, was stabbed 19 times, allegedly by goons hired by the land mafia. “178/2002—-that’s the case number of my mom’s murder at the Thane MCOCA court,” says Neel. As early as March 2001, Navleen had lodged a complaint at the Nallasopara police station about receiving threatening calls from the Bhai Thakur gang. She was the prime witness in builder Suresh Dube's murder case, in which Thakur was one of the accused. Local activist and district president of Janata Dal (S) Vilas Vichare says that though the police arrested Navleen’s alleged assailants, they could not “identify the mastermind behind the killing. Everyone knows who had given the supari. But what has happened after five years? Nothing.” He remembers how Navleen’s reputation of fighting for justice had spread by word of mouth. Tribals from Jawahar, Mokhada, Vikramgadh and interiors of Virar, Vasai and Nallasopara asked her for help in cases of exploitation and land grabbing. She had even begun toying with the idea of starting an organisation to work for tribal rights. “She wanted to name it Satyavijay,” says fellow activist Jaya Menon.Six months after her death, Navleen’s friends and supporters came together to form Satyavijay Sewa Sanstha, a similar organisation. But today, Navleen’s assistant Gandhali Naik is struggling to uphold the organisation. In last three years, Satyavijay Sewa Sanstha has been able to secure justice in only two cases. ‘‘Not many people want to be associated with the organisation, especially after Navleen’s murder,’’ says Gandhali Naik. Neel, now a resident of Borivali, hardly visits the Sanstha, which operates from their Nallasopara residence. He “only has bad memories of that place.’’ But the young man wants to fulfill at least one of his mother's unrealised dreams; he plans to start a school for the underprivileged.
