MADAN B.LOKUR,J. - (1.) These petitions were filed and taken up in public interest are intended to bring back some sunshine in the lives of the widows in Vrindavan and in ashrams elsewhere in the country. It is a pity that these widows have been so W.P. (C) Nos. 659 of 2007 etc. unfortunately dealt with, as if they have ceased to be entitled to live a life of dignity and as if they are not entitled to the protection of Article 21 of the Constitution.
(2.) The petitioner, Environment and Consumer Protection Foundation is a registered charitable society and a non-political body. It filed a petition under Article 32 of the Constitution essentially for an appropriate writ requiring the Union of India and the State of Uttar Pradesh to take all steps to rehabilitate the widows of Vrindavan so as to bring them to a stage where they can live with dignity.
(3.) The petition was filed on the basis of an article 'White Shadows of Vrindavan' written by Atul Sethi and published in the New Delhi edition of the Times of India of 25th March, 2007. The apparent intention of the article was to report and bring to the notice of the public and the government agencies the pathetic and shocking conditions of the widows living in Vrindavan - begging in temples and then huddling together in hovels. Broadly speaking, the article described the city of Vrindavan in which abandoned widows live a hand to mouth existence like white shadows thus giving the city another name that is the City of Widows. According to the author no one knows since when these widows have been coming to Vrindavan but most of them are from West Bengal and their life stories often W.P. (C) Nos. 659 of 2007 etc. follow a similar pattern which is the death of the husband, relatives leaving them in Vrindavan, days spent singing prayers and begging at temples where they live on a day to day basis. Most widows refuse to go back to their village or home, even if they are given a chance to do so, saying that now this is our home.;