Ramesh Rakshale and his family members want the President of India to give them permission to end their lives. Since 2006, this Marathi lecturer from Bidar says, he has been denied his salary, and has been dragged from pillar to post in the hope of justice.
Now, 11 years later, he’s lost all hope. So, he wrote a heart-wrenching letter to the President, requesting him to grant him and his family permission for a mercy killing, as they can’t sustain their lives without any earnings.
"It is my humble request that the concerned authorities grant me justice within one week from today (May 2) or one week from today, you (President) grant permission for me, my wife, my two daughters and one son to end our lives," the petition for mercy killing reads.
Ramesh says it all started in October 2006.
“I was working as a Marathi lecturer since 1991 in the Independent Pre-University College in Santhapura, located in Bidar district. Sometime in 2006, the lecturers realised that the college Principal Belthar Shivaraya, had withheld our provident fund and insurance money. When, I complained to the management, they did not take any action,” Ramesh alleges.
Ramesh went to file a complaint with the Santhapura Police but the Sub Inspector there refused to file a complaint. “In March 2007, after local media reported the news of my ordeal, an FIR was filed. The Principal Shivaraya and the Sub Inspector, MA Mulla, were suspended from their duties,” says Ramesh.
In retaliation, Ramesh says, the college management withheld his salary.
“When I asked them why, they just told me to stop coming for work, and claimed that no student was interested in learning Marathi. How could it be true when I was teaching a class full of students?” Ramesh asks.
Ramesh says this goes against Rules 21, 23 and 28 of Chapter V of the Karnataka Education Act, which mandate that a teacher employed by the government cannot be excluded from the salary list unless the Pre University Education (PUE) Department is notified by the college. Ramesh says that no such procedure was followed in his case.
In 2007, Ramesh went on a 45-day hunger strike in front of the office of then Deputy Commissioner of Bidar District, Harsha Gupta.
When this did not produce results, he decided to move the High Court.
In 2011, he filed a petition with the Kalaburagi bench of the Karnataka High Court, stating that the college management had withheld his salary and fired him from his job without giving him a relieving letter.
In July 2012, says Ramesh, the court dismissed the case after the Administrator of the PUE Department, Jayaraj Chathure, submitted an affidavit to the court, stating that Ramesh had been transferred to Amareshwara Pre-University College as a Marathi lecturer.
To his dismay, Amareshwara PU College refused to allow Ramesh to work there. He again filed a petition in 2013 with the Kalaburagi bench of the HC, stating that the concerned authorities had not obeyed the court’s order, which amounted to contempt of court.
In 2015, the Administrator of the PUE Department, this time Seema Chathure, filed an affidavit with the court stating that Ramesh had been transferred to DUD Pre University College in Belagavi. The case was again dismissed, he narrates.
He had never imagined that the same fate awaited him at the college in Belagavi too. This college also refused to take him on as an employee.
Refusing to accept defeat, Ramesh went back to the HC for the third time. This time, he was transferred to Shivaji PU College in Bidar’s Balkhi taluk.
“Four months ago, the transfer order came in. Shivaji College is also refusing to employ me despite the transfer orders. I have three children and with no other way out, I have taken so many loans that I am not able to repay. Even the money made from the home tuitions I conduct is not enough. There is no way my family can sustain itseslf. I don’t have the strength to fight anymore,” Ramesh weeps, as he recounts his tale.
In his letter to the President, he writes:
“Consequently, my entire family has lost hope of ever getting justice from all the competent authorities and are disgusted with leading our lives. Hence, we have decided to put an end to our lives by obtaining permission for mercy killing. It is my humble request that the concerned authorities grant me justice within one week from today (May 2) or one week from today, you (President) grant permission for me, my wife, my two daughters and one son to end our lives.”