Kerala: Jailed father meets daughter for first time in 33 years amid Covid-19 pandemic

Even as Covid19 pandemic has wreaked havoc across India but the distressful situation has turned out to be a succour to the rarest of the rare reunion between a father and his daughter in Kerala for the first time after 33 yearsThe 65yearold man Sivaji has been cooling his heels at the central prison in the state capital while his 33yearold daughter R Ajitha decided to meet her father whom she had never seen as he went underground month after she was born in 1988 Later he was arrested for murder in the same yearSince then he had tried four times to escape the prison cell but each time he was caught and put behind the barsSpeaking to IANS Ajitha who is an active CPIM worker recalled the sequence of events and is really excited that her efforts paid off and she was able to meet her fatherMy father while living in Alappuzha district had a tiff with a local Congress worker in which the former sustained critical injuries But in 1985 a fight again ensued between the two that resulted in the death of the Congressman and my father evaded the spot said AjithaAfter the murder my father went underground and married my mother But in 1988 he was arrested on the murder charge and I was then just a month old Since then he attempted to escape four times from the jail and each time he was caught she addedFollowing Sivajis arrest his wife had committed suicide after one year and by that time their she grew up in the company of her maternal grandmother who is presently 90yearoldAs time passed by Ajitha heard about Sivajis name from her relatives and much later she realised it was her father and is currently lodged in a jailThe first time when I decided to meet my father was after a TV programme telecast inside the jail premise and then I found out that my father was lodged at the central jail in the state capital I had then started planning to meet him and got in touch with the local CPIM leaders at Palakkad where I live with my husband who works in a food unit at Kozhikode and three children Ajitha saidAlthough officials did their best to help her but the only hurdle according to Ajitha was the son of that slain Congress leader who is now a police officialEven though the maximum sentence for a crime of this nature is 14 years and even when the extension is applied for each jail break he ought to be free after 16 years but what I was told is that the report against him inside the jail premise is bad and hence he continues to be there added AjithaShe said a glimmer of hope emerged last year when the court decided to give parole for prisoners on account of Covid but her father failed to get that benefitBut this time when the apex court ruled again to give parole my father got it and I came from Palakkad on Wednesday and met my father for the first time We took the night train and reached home on Thursday morningMy three kids and we are all happy that we could finally get to see my father We are all really delighted and the parole is now for three months after which he will have to go back Meanwhile we will also try to see if he can get remission added AjithaThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever