Awaiting Rs1.19-cr verdict

Vishnu has sacrificed marriage at the altar of the civil case

Vishnu Manjucha, 60, can be easily lost in the crowd of litigants thronging court premises but his 38-year relationship with the judiciary is the nucleus of his life.

At the age of 22, he first entered court premises with his mother in 1969 over a property dispute between her and her sister.

Today, two plots, jointly over 4,000 sq ft, near Khar Danda inherited by the two sisters are still a subjudice matter. But Vishnu hopes that if the City Civil Court passes an order in his favour, the property can be auctioned and he and his brother Kisan can get a share of it.

Although Vishnu, a fisherman, says courts are not for the common man, his spirit is unrelenting. He has faith that he will get a favourable order from the court.

Having given this court battle his all, everything else in Vishnu’s life has taken a back seat. “With this case, I did not want to shift my focus to family life. So I decided not to get married,” says Vishnu, a man of a frail built.

A class IX school dropout, he is now familiar with all the legal jargon and can recount every stage of his case with exact dates and events without referring to a single sheet of paper.

Where any other layman may stammer, Vishnu nonchalantly uses phrases like notice of motion, preliminary decree, first appeal, plaintiff and court receiver, chatting in his modest Khar Koliwada home. 

His advocate Madhubala Kajle says that if on some day she is busy in another court she need not worry about Vishnu’s case as he manages the show and keeps tab of all the nitty-gritty.

“Earlier I used to tremble to speak before a judge, but now I can tell them that my advocate cannot come and ask for an adjournment ekdam bindaas (without fear)” he says.

After the appointment of a court receiver in 1985 and the subsequent counter applications dismissed, the High Court had passed the final decree in the case in 2002 and asked the City Civil Court to decide the case.

But as Vishnu’s aunt Narmada Rambai and her children are opposing the auction of the property that is currently in their possession, the court is yet to decide the matter. It will be heard further by the City Civil Court on Friday. 

A conservative estimate puts the two plots at Rs1.19 crore. Praying for an early decision, Vishnu breaks into a toothless smile and says, “I hope this case is decided in my lifetime and not passed on to the next generation.”