Monday Special:
Dr Pavnendranath Tiwari was a lecturer in Vikram University. Once he noticed a discrepancy and made a complaint to Governor against the vested interests. Since he took high and might head on, they reportedly resorted to taint his image. Propaganda was run against him and he was accused of using unscrupulous means to complete his Ph D degree. But true to his salt, Dr Tiwari was not bogged down by such tactics. In order to save his hour, he thought it would be best if he could fight his own case instead of using the services of any other lawyer.
He presented himself as both victim and lawyer in the court and managed to drive home point that it was an utter malicious campaign to tarnish his image. He stood vindicated as both the charges against Dr Tiwari were conclusively quashed by court. Later, it resulted into charge-sheeting varsity’s former vice-chancellor, two professors and many others for hatching the conspiracy against him. After the conviction, some miscreants are still serving imprisonment while others are still at large. Free Press spoke to him as he recounted the horrors of justice being denied to him and his stubbornly yet inspiring march to save his dignity. Experts from the interview
Tell us how did it happen?
I was a lecturer in varsity’s school of studies in geology. I was vice-president of MP University Professors Union then and very much privy to the every information regarding its council members. I smelled the rat about the on-going irregularity and raised my voice against ill-conceived rotation policy. In view of this, I made a complaint to Governor against vice-chancellor and other professors. They could not digest this and started a fallacious campaign to malign my image. Not satisfied with this, they got me terminated from the service without any legitimate probe or inquiry. They did not even stop there and got my Ph D degree cancelled. That’s when I decided to stand up for myself. That’s how it all began.
Why did you choose to fight your own case?
Right from my childhood I had the inclination towards legalities and intricacies of our judicial system. I would often go through the materials concerning with country’s constitution and legal system. In the hindsight, I feel if I had not had interest, I would have not been better equipped to fight my own case. Besides this, I also believe the sense of righteousness in my conscience and their malicious campaign to taint my image actually worked in my favour and constantly provoked me to work even harder. In addition to this, I am also of the opinion that there was no better person than me to fight the case as I had all the tiniest particulars which actually made my winning prospects much stronger.
In your opinion, what are the breakthroughs or takeaways from your case as far as our country’s judicial system is concerned?
There are many actually. But here I would like to point out only cardinal ones. I believe that our judicial system is though tardy yet ensures justice to all under certain conditions. When I say certain conditions, I would like to say it is largely for high and mighty as they can buy everything to hinder the delivery of justice. I fought this case for almost 10 years in order to bring the perpetrators of this crime to justice but in the process lost my precious years of youth and many other opportunities. For me, any mediocre who is not well-versed with legalities of justice would have simply succumbed to the pressure and given up on life. The biggest takeaway is this that if you are acquainted with law of the land than it can come to your rescue.
Anything advice you intend to solicit to our readers?
Always do charity as a lawyer I am fighting cases for underprivileged and oppressed ones for free. I have fought around 100 cases till now for them. Also, never give up in life, be aware of things around you and keep fighting for rights.