Sweet PIL for a Kargil hero waiting for water; BWSSB, BBMP,commissioner of police, chief secretary and home secretary get highcourt notice.

is not the water beautiful #2, originally uploaded by the|G|™.

Kargil hero from Madras Sappers, Subedar R Balakrishna's war against the water mafia, which deprived him of his water and sanitary connections in early August, has received a shot in the arm with the high court coming to his aid.

The high court on Wednesday registered a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) to provide justice to Subedar Balakrishna, a resident of Horamavu.

The high court division bench headed by chief justice JS Khehar and justice Manjula Chellur, ordered issuance of notices to the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), commissioner of police, chief secretary and home secretary. The suo motu PIL was taken up for hearing before the division bench on Wednesday.

The bench has also appointed an amicus curiae (a lawyer), DP Mahesh, to assist the high court in this case to render justice to Balakrishna and his family.

A sustained campaign was launched by DNA in its editions, beginning August 8 ('Kargil hero beaten up, threatened for taking on city's water mafia'), on the ordeal of Subedar Balakrishna at the hands of the husband of the Horamavu corporator.

Taking note of DNA's breaking story on August 8, senior judge justice DV Shylendra Kumar brought it to the notice of the high court through a letter dated August 10 to the court's registrar while referring to the story.

The PIL contends that "Subedar Balakrishna is a Kargil hero and there is a threat to his life. Police are not coming forward to protect his interests in this matter. We honour war heroes, but there is a threat to his life and nothing is being done about it in the whole case."

Horamavu corporator Tejeswini's husband R Raju and his henchmen had allegedly cut the water and sanitary connections to his house. They allegedly beat him up, harassed him and issued life threats for continuing his protest. This had forced him to take refuge at the MEG campus.

But ever since then his wife and sons are living in danger at their Horamavu residence.

Source Citation
"Sweet PIL for a Kargil hero waiting for water; BWSSB, BBMP, commissioner of police, chief secretary and home secretary get high court notice." DNA [Daily News & Analysis] 2 Sept. 2010. General OneFile. Web. 7 Sept. 2010.
Document URL
http://find.galegroup.com/gps/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T003&prodId=IPS&docId=A236221009&source=gale&srcprod=ITOF&userGroupName=22054_acld&version=1.0

Gale Document Number:A236221009