Bangalore: Prabhavathy had just one aim when her son died in police custody after brutal third-degree torture: justice for her only child.
Thirteen years on - after ensuring the conviction of all the six policemen responsible for her son Udayakumar's death, including death sentences for two of them - the 67-year-old single woman revealed who had given her the courage to fight the long, legal battle.
"It was my son who provided me the courage and energy to carry on the battle for 13 years. Only his body is gone, he is still alive in my heart," Prabhavathy, who worked as an ayah at a local school, told The Telegraph on Saturday from her home in Thiruvananthapuram.
"I faced threats from goons who hung around my house. A van tried to run me over. People made fun of me saying I would get a lot of compensation from the government and life would be easy. But I fought on, assuming that my son is still with me and the thought that no mother should have to endure such a pain at the hands of policemen," she said, her voice choking at times.
Udayakumar, who was 26 when he died in police custody at Fort police station in Thiruvananthapuram on September 27, 2005, worked at a scrap steel shop. Police had picked him and a friend for an alleged theft.
His only fault was that he had been seen with his friend who was wanted in the theft case. When the police found Rs 4,000 with Udayakumar, they tied him to a bench and subjected him to torture.
The post-mortem report said an iron rod had been rolled over his thighs, an excruciatingly painful third-degree method. The report revealed 22 injuries and ruptured blood vessels on his thighs.
A CBI court on Wednesday convicted all the six policemen, including one who died during trial. It sentenced K. Jithukumar and S.V. Sreekumar to death in the first such verdict in Kerala. Retired officers T.K. Haridas, E.K. Sabu and Ajith Kumar were jailed for three years for destruction of evidence. The sixth accused, K.V. Soman, died during the trial.
Even the famous Rajan case over a similar custodial death of engineering student P. Rajan during the Emergency days did not end in such punishment for the guilty policemen.
Prabhavathy had fought on with the help of some local people, including CPI district committee member P.K. Raju who not only guided her but also helped raise money for her legal battle.
The gritty mother, abandoned by her husband soon after her son's birth, also recalled the help of many benefactors who guided her for free through the dreary and tortuous legal process.
"I knew nothing at that stage. But with the help of some people who stood by me all along, I managed to tread the corridors of justice for 13 years until I got the desired verdict," she said. "My only prayer to the Almighty was to keep me alive till the day justice is delivered."
Asked if she intended to keep up the fight, because the convicted policemen would surely appeal, Prabhavathy said she had won her battle. Now it was over to the government to do the rest.
Prabhavathy still remembers the scare tactics the accused and their supporters had adopted. Soman, who died during the trial, used to hang around near her modest home the state government had bought her about two years after Udayakumar's death.
"He would stand near my house looking at me. Perhaps he wanted to say something. But I told myself that I would never talk to any of them," she said. Tragedy had toughened her.
Prabhavathy now lives with her younger brother Mohanan who runs a small fruit stall at Chala market in the Kerala capital. She wants to spend the rest of her life praying for her son's soul.
