Fake encounter: A fathers fight for justice

ALAPPUZHA: Gopinatha Pillai, 72, the father of  Pranesh Kumar Pillai alias Javed Shaikh, who was killed by police in a ‘fake encounter’ in Ahmedabad in 2004, is today a much relieved person. He has fought to find the truth behind the death of his son, who was ‘branded a terrorist after death’, for seven years. Pillai has helped his Muslim daughter-in-law and her three children after the death of his son. Gopinatha Pillai, a former employee of the Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited, Bhopal, is now settled at Thamarakulam, Charummood, Kayamkulam. According to Pillai, “After the death of Pranesh in the fake encounter of Gurajat police, I have been knocking at the doors of police and other officials to find out the truth, some of them helped. And this cleared my way to find out the truth.” He said that,”After the incident, Saajith and children - Abubacker, 14, Sainab, 10, and Moosa, 7, faced social ostracism. They were  stamped sons of a terrorist. The authorities of the school where Saajith was teaching, sacked her. This meant that there was no income. So, I sold my property in Charummood and bought a three-bedroom flat in Pune for the children. As there is nobody to care for them after my death, some money has also been deposited in the bank in each of their names.”According to  Pillai, “Saajitha was a poor girl from Ahamed Nagar, a hamlet, some distance from Pune. My son fell in love with  her and married her and they settled in Pune. Later, he converted to Islam. I never voiced any protest as I believe that because every person can have their own views. Why should I interfere,” he said.  The grieving father confides that, “I suffered much to get justice. I have spent lakhs to conduct cases. While staying in Gujarat, I  feared the Gujarat police. Because of threats, while travelling from railway station to the hotel, I used to pretend to be a beggar to escape from enemies. Sincere lawyers in Gujarat helped me. He said that, “Now, the future course of action will be decided after consulting the lawyers and  wellwishers.