I, ChandrakalaDigal, aged 55, wife of Late Gimango am a resident of village Padrikia, in Kandhamal, Odisha, where a majority of the inhabitants are Tribals (Adivasis). After my husband’s demise, I took charge of running my family single headedly by taking up daily wage labour. With school going three daughters and two sons, the wages I earned were far from sufficient to take care of our rudimentary needs. When the riots broke out in the district following the alleged assassination of a Hindu leader, the right wing fringe groups started attacking and vandalizing the houses belonging to the people of Christian faith. Since I belong to the Christian community (Tribal Christian), I feared for our lives and rushed towards the relief camps set up in Raikia much later, where I stayed with my family for six months. During this time, I learned that all our houses were burned down by the rioters. After returning home, I found out that my name was missed out in the official assessment on damages and losses for compensation. This shook me to the core as I was unable to resume work and had nothing to ball back on to sustain my family with a square meal also.

On 15th November 2012, I happened to attend a legal-aid training camp after returning home, that was organised in Raikaby some voluntary organisations. Empowered by the information gathered at the training programme by the lawyers, I filed a grievance petition to the administrative block office of Raikia, challenging exclusion from the assessment and demanding compensation for the damage of my house. On 17th November, I consulted with the legal aid lawyer and was assured pro-bono support to follow up with my grievance petition. Filing of grievance itself wasn’t an easy task for me and took me three attempts to get through due to the absence of the concerned block officials. At last, investigation was assured by the Block Development Officer and repeated follow ups were conducted by the lawyer. Finally, my house damage was enlisted, which secured me a compensation of Rs. 10.000 (Ten Thousand rupees) under the partial damage category. This financial support enabled me to reconstruct my house, while I also sought legal assistance for applying for widow pension. Thanks to all these voluntary efforts of the lawyers that we are able to return and live in our own house.