A 48-year-old Indian man who hails from Tamil Nadu has purportedly strolled 1000 km in more than two years to attend court proceedings for acquiring a flight ticket to return home. Selvaraj began his court journeys after his mother died back home in an accident and he was denied permission to go and attend her funeral.
The matter has now come to the attention of Indian authorities and External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday sought a report from the Indian consulate in Dubai.
"I have asked for a report from Indian Embassy in Dubai," Swaraj tweeted.
Jagannathan Selvaraj, who hails from Tiruchirappalli, braved traffic, heat, sandstorms and exhaustion as he made his way through the busy highways of Dubai, travelling a distance of 22 kilometre one way from his Sonapur accommodation to attend the labour court proceedings.
A bus trip from Sonapur to Karama costs a few dirhams, but Selvaraj did not have money to travel by bus and was forced to spend two hours for a one-way trip and another two hours for the return journey after every court hearing.
In the four hours, he covered a distance of 54 kilometres and had to undertake that journey every couple of weeks until a verdict on his case was delivered.
“My case number was 826 and I had to walk 2 hours in the morning to reach the court in Dubai. I used to get up early morning at 4 am on the days the court was to hear my case. Every 15 days, I had to walk all the way to the court because I did not have the money to pay for bus or taxi,” he said.
“Nobody helped me, but I must have attended the court at least 20 times during the two years. After every court hearing, I would hang around until evening to start the return trip. The walk was tough in summer but I did not have any other options. I wanted to escape from these problems,” he told ‘Khaleej Times’.
His case went on for almost two years and Selvaraj recollects that he must have walked at least 20 times to Karama from Sonapur and back, every time covering a distance of 50-plus kilometres in four hours.
He has been living in a public park in Sonapur for several months and says he is sick and tired and just wants to return home, the report said.
“He wants a ticket to go home. All his friends who were living in the park have gone home. He cannot walk all the way to India, and needs just a plane ticket to go home,” said a social worker who is trying to help Selvaraj.
(With inputs from PTI)
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