NDTV Correspondent, Amravati
In what could be an embarrassment for President Pratibha Patil and the government, Patil's husband has been ordered to return two acres of land to a poor farmer in Amravati in Maharashta's Vidarbha District.
The Daryapur Sub-Divisional Magistrate's Court has ordered Patil's husband, Devi Singh Shekhawat, to return the disputed plot to Manoj Bansode, a Dalit farmer.
Bansode says that in 2007, while buying an adjacent plot, Shekhawat took over land that belonged to Bansode by changing the ownership details in the local Land Rights Records. Bansode realized this in June last year and went to court, and has now won his case.
"My 2.5 acres land is located in Khalaas stand in Chandrapur . The President's husband Devi Singh Shekhawat had usurped it and changed the name records," he says.
The President's husband says Bansode is desperate for publicity, and that officials measuring his plot erroneously added Bansode's land to his in property records. ''We have not grabbed anybody's land. It's a lie,'' he said to NDTV.
The court order passed in favour of Bansode says, "The changes made to this field in the Land Rights Records are being cancelled. The case is being returned for the inclusion of the petitioner's name in the land Rights Record Register."
Amravati has been the bastion of the present President's family for decades now. They are big landowners here, who run an education empire as well. Devi Singh Shekhawat has been an MLA from Amravati, and Pratibha Patil has served as the area's MP. Now, their son is the MLA.
Rashtrapati Bhavan has refused to comment on the issue, stating only that the President's husband is a private citizen and enjoys no special privileges.
Did President's husband usurp Dalit farmer's land?
