Kamalaben Trivedi fought the British in the 1940s and only quit when the British left the country. But little did the freedom fighter know that her life would be an eternal battle. The 88-year-old was duped by her own son and discarded by her relatives. She now lives in Aadhar old-age home in Borivali, Mumbai.
She has been living in Mumbai for the past 60 years; her husband passed away in 1997. Since then the freedom fighter started staying alone in her flat in Malad because her son, along with his wife and daughter were living in Bahrain. In 2006, he visited and told his mother that he wanted to buy a new, bigger house. He asked Kamalaben to pay half the money and promised to pay the remaning money after he got a loan from his company. Kamlaben sold off her flat, but eventually the loan never came through; she had to pay for the new house and exhaust every penny she had ever saved.
They often called her, from Bahrain, and threatened her, asking her to vacate the house. After her son passed away in 2014, her daughter-in-law and granddaughter came to India, sold the house and moved to Pune and refused to let her stay with them. The frail old lady fled to an old-age home in Gujarat. Having lived there for a year without a guarantor, the authorities refused to keep her any longer. That is when she returned to Mumbai and met social activist Prakash Nair. He took care of the freedom fighter and till today funds her stay at the old-age home in Borivali. He is her guarantor as well. She is still fighting for justice and plans to contact the police to report the injustice she had to deal with. She also plans to write an autobiography soon.
Our heart goes to the freedom fighter and hats off to her bravery! We hope she gets justice soon!
Image courtesy: Mumbai Mirror
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