Kailash Chaudhary, 80, had never travelled so far from home. Over 1,000 km away from his five bighas in Madhubani district in Bihar where his cows graze, Chaudhary found himself in strange surroundings today — the plush air-conditioned lounge of the Delhi High Court. The cool air did little to smoothen the furrows on his weather-beaten face. Nor could his eyes hide the sorrow of a “silly” quarrel a decade ago which separated him forever from his only son, Shambu. Yet this was a strange day — Chaudhary had been brought to Delhi to decide the worth of his son’s life, finally fixed at Rs 2.5 lakh, according to the prosecutor.A year after he last saw his father, Shambu, a migrant vegetable seller, and another man died under a heap of brick and mortar when a building in West Patel Nagar where he slept collapsed on the night of September 26, 1999. “He had no reason to come to Delhi. He could have remained in the village. May be death was written for him to be in Delhi,” said Chaudhary.Forensic reports of samples taken from the building debris found that a disproportionate ratio of cement, gravel and sand had been used. A probe by the Special Crime Cell of the Delhi Police ended with a sessions court charging three builders — Rupak Sahni, Rajesh Lamba and Rajesh Vohra — under Section 304 A (death caused by negligence) in August, 2003. Today, Chaudhary and his grandson were brought to Delhi by the builders on a promise that they would be paid Rs 1.25 lakh as compensation. In exchange, they had to second a petition filed by the trio in High Court, seeking to quash the FIR registered against them.“It was a mistake on the part of the builders to think they could pay some money and end the criminal proceedings. The entire act of bringing them to Delhi was a sham,” said additional public prosecutor Jaideep Malik.As Chaudhary stood in a corner of the courtroom, Justice G S Sistani declared to the builders that he had no intention to see Chaudhary and his grandson short-changed. “It is time you stopped playing with people’s lives. Look at the plight of these people,” said Justice Sistani. He called for a higher compensation and said the criminal proceedings should continue. “If money is the sole criterion, half the criminal proceedings can be settled. We have to go by the law here.” The builders, through their counsel, replied that “the building was our first project. The men who died were trespassers and not our employees. We have to take loan and pay the victims’ families now.”Outside the courtroom, the haggling went on, only to be interspersed with visits to the courtroom time and again. Each time the compensation amount went up higher by a few thousand. By mid-afternoon, Chaudhary was asked if he would be satisfied with Rs 1.5 lakh and a “life-time” job for his grandson with the builders in Delhi.To this, the old man told the judge: “My grandson earns Rs 500 in Madhubani. He is happy there. He does not fight with me.” Suman, the grandson, nodded in agreement.By 5 pm, the builders agreed in court to pay Chaudhary Rs 2.25 lakh as compensation on Thursday.“I thought Bihar was lawless. But I spent the whole day haggling in court here for the price of my son’s life,” said Chaudhary as he walked out of the complex, away from the humming air-conditioners.
