An Indian lawyer won a legal battle after 22 years of lawsuits against a railway company that charged him 20 rupees more expensive for a ticket.
In 1999, Tungnath Chaturvedi bought a ticket to travel from his hometown of Mathura (north) to Moradabad, 300 kilometers to the southwest.
But the ticket clerk charged him 90 rupees ($1.13) instead of 70 ($0.00). 25 cents more expensive.
After seeing how all his requests to return the difference were rejected, Chaturvedi ended up suing the company in the Mathura commercial court, which now condemns the company to pay him Rs 15,000 (188 dollars) with interest of 12% per annum for damage. .
“It is not about money but about rights. As a citizen, I have the right to question the arbitrary and corrupt practices of the State, or its mechanisms”, declared this lawyer, who defended himself.
The case also shows the chronic slowness of the Indian judicial system. “The court deadlines were frustrating,” he says of a trial that lasted 22 years, had 5 different judges and 120 hearings, “but as a lawyer, I was determined to fight to the end,” he added.