Vipender Vanpuria, Advocate, Khurai
Vipendra Vanpuriya is from Khurai in Sagar MP. He identifies himself as a social worker, but also clarifies that this was not always the case, and it is only after joining CSJ that he has become comfortable with this identity of himself as a social worker. He shares that an awareness of social justice issues had been there in his consciousness, but he did not have the platform to do the same, while also lacking adequate support in his endeavor. There was also a fear of being prosecuted by the upper castes due him belonging to an OBC community. However, any such fear is now gone after being provided a platform by CSJ as well the necessary support to do his work. He feels that he is energized by encouragement and inspired by successes.
Sharing his views on discrimination, he said that it is very widespread in society and he would feel the prosecution whenever he would interact with upper castes. He recounted a personal experience of being invited over for dinner by a colleague who belonged to an upper caste background. At the Dinner, he was made to sit separately from the other guests and served food after the other guests. Vanpuriya recounted how the humiliation and hurt felt was fresh till today and even though discrimination on an individual basis against him had stopped, it still existed in society to a large extent. He shared how even today, in some villages people from his community are made to drink tea in separate cups.
He recounted an incident in the court of the JMFC, where Sarita Wadhwani, the presiding officer, was approached by him with an introduction to the organization and the work that we do. He also expressed a willingness to take up cases which had other lawyers been no interested in taking up. She was very impressed and immediately referred a rape victim’s case to him. This appreciation from the authority, did feel very satisfying
In terms of the state, Vipendra’s view is that the court is a tool for dispensing justice, though it has not been used as such, while across most government officers, the personnel do not do their job seriously, which leads to inefficiency in the system. In terms of the community, while generally there is a good response from people and willingness to learn, there is always a section of people who think negatively and act as an obstacle in changing the situation. In terms of future course of direction, Vanpuriya is afraid of being left alone and without support in his fight against injustice. He also feels that his status as a junior lawyer acts as a handicap in his fight against injustice.