Precedent

Don’t Mess With This 80-Year-Old

Shahina KK | 30 Jun, 2011

A Kerala octogenarian gets company directors sentenced for ground water pollution

KOCHI ~ An 80-year-old woman created legal history in Kerala last week by getting six men convicted for polluting ground water. The First Class Judicial Magistrate Court of Alappuzha sentenced the directors of NC Johns & Sons Ltd, a coir products export company, to two years’ rigorous imprisonment based on a complaint by CK Kumudini, an octogenarian who fought the legal battle for over a decade.

In 2001, NC Johns had opened a bleaching and dyeing unit in Thumboli, Alappuzha district. “I had a lotus pond in my compound. In 2002, I noticed that an oil layer had formed on the water. The colour of the pond had also changed,” says Kumudini. People in the locality depended on bore wells for drinking water. Kumudini visited every household in the locality and found that all their water had been contaminated. With the help of her nephew, she sought the Pollution Control Board’s (PCB) assistance to test the water quality. They found high levels of pollution. Initially, Kumudini approached the High Court, which in turn asked the PCB to intervene. Notices and stop memos issued by the PCB and panchayat were ignored by the company. In 2005, Kumudini filed a writ petition charging the company’s directors with a criminal offence.

“I was not able to offer a glass of water to my guests. I lost all my lotus flowers,” she says. Her son, working in Japan, helped her financially in fighting the case. She still regrets that his Japanese wife is afraid to consume food or drinks when they come to visit her. “We often dine out when they are here,” she says.

Everyone in Thumboli supported Kumudini. An initiative by her to send a public petition to the President got more than 3,000 signatures. “She is educated, spirited, knows English well and can prepare petitions and documents in both Malayalam and English. Hence, we all relied on her in this struggle,” says Raju Thomas, a native of Thumboli.