Historic Court Case in the Family

Court Case In The Family- A Record

My grandmother Karam Devi became widow in her teens. Inder Jit Singh was born posthumously to her in 1920. Hence her sister -in-law Kishoree Bai took upon herself the responsibility of heading the family. She ruled with an iron rod and authority. She fought vehemently against her younger brother Lala Murli Dhar and his son Lala Brahm Dass who wanted to exclusively grab the entire assets of my grandfather Lala Bhagwan Dass. Brahm Dass wished to eliminate the little kids and send back my grandmother Karam Devi back to Shikarpur in Sindh where her family belonged to. 

My grandfather Bhagwan Dass when near to his death, summoned his brother Murli Dhar and gave him clear instructions to take care of his wife Karam Devi and young toddler son. At that time my grandmother Karam Devi also expecting another child. It was left to Murli Dhar to take up the responsibility after his death. He was told to make available sufficient facilities as Bhagwan Dass left behind a big fortune in terms of income from their rental properties and farm lands. As one estimates indicates, there was an income of Rs 700 per month from one commercial property in Lyallpur. For understanding the value of money in 1920, a family could easily make both ends meet with a monthly income of Rs 5. Murli Dhar gladly accepted the orders of his older brother and promised that he shall send his kids to England for imparting higher education. But at the time of Matriculation examination, my father Vas Dev Singh did not have enough money of Rs 20 to submit for examination fee. At this, my maternal grandfather Kanwar Bhan paid Rs 20 for his examination fee as Vas Dev Singh was engaged to his youngest daughter Savitri Bai. 

After the death of  Bhagwan Dass, Murli Dhar and his only son Brahm Dass turned turtles. Perhaps it was the greed of wealth which made them blind to all virtues. Brahm Dass refused to extend any help and will not give Karam Devi any help or money. It was very difficult for them to survive without any finances. He even sent for the poor father of Karam Devi to come and take their daughter back along with her kids. The old father came running from Shikarpur to know what was happening to his daughter and her kids. It is at this time that Kishoree Bai, my Dad's Bhuaa took up the stand and challenged her own younger brother Murli Dhar to part with wealth of little kids.

In mean time Murli Dhar had mortgaged the major property at Lyallpur in the guise of development of the property. Flamboyant as Brahm Dass was, he wasted money. He got into bad habits of gambling. In no time he lost a good junk of money by bidding high stakes in gambling. When asked to hand over the share of income and property to his cousins, he became furious as he was in no position to return the money and get his property back. He had been bragging and boasting lately he was the only heir to the whole of property. So he thought that it would be easier to get rid of these two kids and their mother and grab the entire estate.

The famous Clock Tower In Lyallpur

Sham Dass the oldest brother of my grandfather was posted as Tehsildar when the town of Lyallpur was being conceived. The present day city was founded by the British Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab, Sir Charles James Lyall for whom it was originally named Lyallpur. Prior to the British making the area into an urban center, it largely consisted of various villages. However, the construction of various canals allowed the area to be irrigated. After the founding of the city, people were invited to the city with promises of land if they were to work it. This allowed the city to grow rapidly.

Sham Dass Tehsildar was also responsible for the development of the town. As I was told the town was designed like an umbrella, with a Clock tower in the center and eight members of umbrella as its main Eight Bazars. Sh Sham Dass also purchased a way side pool which became a part of the 'Kachehri bazar' later on and thus a fortune developed. Kacheri Bazar was the top address in a modern town and highly desirable property. Sham Dass had no children of his own and adopted my father Vas Dev Singh as his legal heir to his estates. Sh Brahm Dass will never allow this gold hatching hen to be shared with any one. So the evil ideas started pouring in his otherwise brilliant mind. Instead of using the mind for productive and positive direction, he treaded towards greed and malice. The things actually changed after the sudden death of Sham Dass. As long as Sham Dass was alive, he could not dare to confront or challenge his older uncle, nor his dad Murli Dhar had the guts to utter a single sentence in the presence of Sh Sham Dass who was extremely powerful and strong.

In fact Brahm Dass gate crashed into our house when he came to know that another son was just delivered by widow Karam Devi. He took out the sword from the case to eliminate the newly born. The paramedical help known in those days as midwife ('Daaee') was still cleansing up after the birth of the child. He came and suddenly started shouting and asking for the newly born. But Kishoree Bai, a visionary, always thought a step ahead of his estranged nephew. She pushed my grand mother Karam Devi along with the newly born and older brother through a interconnecting window to the neighboring house of Nanaki Bai ( Kishoree Bai's younger sister Jamuna Bai's daughter) the mother of Partap Singh. Incidentally Partap singh also suffered a similar fate as his entire estate of about 250 acres was devoid of rights by his uncles for two decades. Both brothers Vas Dev Singh & Inder Jit Singh and their cousin Partap Singh had a parallel turn of events in their lives and hence remained close friends also. It was one of the reasons that Partap Singh's younger son Brijbir Singh's wife Bholi proposed her sister's daughter Dashminder for my son's Shivpreet marriage. Our closeness in the family played a big part in making a decision for the marriage alliance.

Kishoree Bai was determined to prove her own brother wrong and get justice by getting the legitimate rights of agricultural and other property in the names of infants of the brother who was no more in the world. She fought a determined and hard courts battle for 20 long years by spending her own money, time and efforts for fighting the costly litigation. Even the court fees for huge assets will run in thousands in 1920-30s. Kishoree Bai mortgaged her own personal assets to make deposits in the courts for initiation a court case for getting justice for her nephews. She often said that she could not allow the infants of one brother to develop like insects in the dirty lanes, while the offshoots of another brother enjoy in palaces.

With a veil on her face and two kids held tightly in each hands, she will go from pillar to post to request the court employees for favors and requesting for a pity on the kids. While her other brother will spend lot of money for getting trifle jobs. He was pretty sure with his might of money, power and authority; he will be able to prove that the kids were having no rights to inherit the left over property with a plea that they were not the legitimate children of his brother. He never wanted to hand over the possession of any of the property in Multan, Muzaffargarh and Kachehri Bazar prime property in Lyallpur at any cost to lowly kids.

photo courtsey: Smt Pushpa Butta Agnihotri and Sh Umesh Agnihotri

Top row L to R: Mohan Lal, Jaswant Kaur, Pritam Kaur, Mahesh Singh.

Standing Lto R: Dharam Chand, Amir Chand, Jagat Narayan, Inderjit Singh, A friend, Mohan Narayan Singh, Atam Narayan Singh, Vas Dev Singh with Preet Mohan (lured by a biscuit in hand, Dad diverted me from crying) in lap, Sundar Lal, Jai Singh with Bhupinder in lap.

Sitting L to R: Gyaan Devi with Manorama in lap, Lachhami Bai, Shakuntla Bai, Joginder lal (Goga), Kanwar Bhan, Pushpa, Kesar Bai with an infant Saroj wrapped in a sheet(hardly visible) in lap, Savitri Bai, Hari Bai, Jaswant Kaur.

Sitting on Floor L to R: Balwant Kaur, Satwant Kaur, Arjan Singh(Boni), Hari Narayan Singh(Groom), Har Kaur(Bride), Jagdish Chand, Anand, Prema, Amrit.(Only two persons were missing, i.e. Harish Chand was unavailable and Prem Kaur expecting a child)

The long court battle went on and on. In a crucial witness, my maternal grandfather Kanwar Bhan played a significant part. He had retired from the army after participating in the World War I. He had many medals which he would display at important occasions. It will be interesting to note here that his real sister was married to Murli Dhar the youngest brother of Lala Sham Dass and Bhagwan Dass. While his own daughter Savitri Devi was betrothed to Bhagwan Dass's Sh Vas Dev Singh. So on one side was his sister and on the other was his daughter. Kanwar Bhan had a big decision to make while appearing as witness in the court.

On a stipulated day, Kanwar Bhan got dressed up in his Army Uniform and decorated it with all the medals he had so proudly won. He went to appear in the court. The Judge welcomed him and took him to the retiring room for recording his statement in person. Kanwar Bhan made it amply clear that the Late Bhagwan Das had actually married Karam Devi and Vas Dev Singh and Inder Jit Singh were their legitimate sons. That vital witness removed the confusion and shortly after some time, the judge announced a verdict in favor of my father/uncle Vas Dev Singh and Inder Jit Singh. I was also told by my Dad that his uncle Murli Dhar in the later stages felt pained and ashamed for what he had done to little kids all those years. But his son Brahm Dass was very adamant and would like to pursue rigorously and was against giving any due rights to his cousins.

Ultimately the court order prevailed. Murli Dhar lost everything he had by of loans and mortgages of his assets. One time a wealthy man with so many assets and property, had no shelter for him or for his four daughters and two sons. Immediately after the court verdict. When Murli Dhar left for his heavenly abode, I am told his sister Kishore Bai also followed him and passed away. The people openly were found making a comment that this sister is going to fight her brother even in the heaven.

Kanwar Bhan advised my father Vas Dev Singh not to be cruel the same way as his uncle and cousin had been to them. So my father and uncle allowed them to own one of the houses in Multan. My father also divided the agricultural land in three parts, one each for Vas Dev Singh, Inder Jit Singh and Brahm Dass.

Good Times came and my father and uncle got Government jobs in Multan District courts before the country's partition engulfed them again. In mean time immediate after the marriage the families got united when Bakhshish Singh the elder son of Brahm Dass was married to my Mom's elder sister's daughter Pritam Kaur (Sindho). Their children and us again began to have very close relations because of double connection and are still very close to each other. We do meet and join on sad and happy occasions from time to time. Their family is now settled in Troronto Canada.

I went to see Bakhshish Singh in Tronto when he was on his last journey. I had a lot of love, affection and respect for him as he also reacted the same way towards me. He always made it a point to see me whenever he visited USA on couple of occasions.

While convalescing in the nursing home, I put up a question Bakhshish Singh with a lot of respect, and asked him if he knew the reason that his father Brahm Dass had lost that all important court case. To which he replied that it was due to some legal technicalities. The case was no doubt fought on strong grounds equally supported by both parties. But in the end justice prevailed. Wish his soul rest in peace wherever it is.

Note and disclaimer (The details are as per the oral stories I heard from my father Vas Dev Singh, uncle sh Inder Jit singh, Bai Ji(Shakuntala Bai), and my maternal and paternal grandmothers. Many other senior family members also corroborated to confirm many part of the stories. If some one has any other opinion to any part, I shall be glad to remove the same from the blog)

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