A Promise to Wife: A two-decade Legal Battle

husband wife battleFrom the last two decades, an old man Padam Chandra Singhi has been a familiar face to many on the Esplanade Court and Bombay High Court premises in the get up of khadi kurta , carrying a polythene bag full of papers and walking slowly up the staircases.

He made a promise to “the generous and warm hearted lady” he ever met – his late wife, Leela and at the age of 83 he believes he has lived this long to keep a that promise because he fought prostate cancer and a near death experience when he fell in elevator pit.

His wife died at the age of 47 on Feb 25, 1989, Singhi took on one of the country’s leading cancer surgeons, accusing him of medical negligence. He never missing a date for close to 400 hearings over 22 years, his daughter Vanmala Jain lives in Santacruz (East), Singhi used to take a one hour train journey to reach the courts in South Mumbai.

husband wife fightingDr Praful Desai was convicted by an additional metropolitan magistrate on July 5 closed one part of Singhi’s battle. Another plea, for compensation, is with the High Court.

 

A Promise to Wife: A two-decade Legal Battle

Report by: – Vibhanshu Vaibhav