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After 14 years, I can finally take a breather: Neelam Katara

Neelam Katara is now working towards getting a law against honour killing

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Neelam Katara, mother of Nitish Katara, at her residence after the Supreme Court verdict on Monday
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It has been a little over 14 years since that fateful night in February when Neelam Katara got the news that her son Nitish had gone missing. That late night call at 3 am informing of her son's disappearance jolted her awake - literally and figuratively.

"I can take a breather now," Neelam said. It has been hours since the pronouncement of the Apex Court's judgment, and the phone has not stopped ringing. Congratulatory messages are pouring in with a few odd ones in between from journalists who want to clarify a point or two. Neelam, wearing a white sari with a gold border, sitting on her couch in her bungalow allotted by the railways, took this all in bravely and stoically.

Neelam led a quite life before her son's death on February 17, 2002. "I lived a very sheltered and pampered existence. My sons Nitish and Nitin - the younger one, would often joke that my life experience was limited to my black board and the white soft board," she said. All that changed overnight.

"It is as though the bubble burst and I woke up to the real world where bad things can and do happen," said the 64-year-old former school teacher. Thinking back, she said, "I did not let despondency overtake me. Siddharth Vashistha aka Manu Sharma had just been acquitted by the trial courts in the Jessica Lal murder case, and all I could think was, this should not happen to me."

Neelam's fight for justice to prove her son's death was an "honour killing" is well known. A lone woman's fight against a political family with a strong criminal background can make anyone quiver to their knees. "I stayed strong. I wanted to fight for my son who always stood up for others," she said. "He was her knight in shining armor," Neelam said recalling her conversations with Nitish on his relationship with Bharti.

"That family (Yadav's) did everything in their power to intimidate me and delay trial indefinitely," Neelam said recalling her ordeal. Neelam remembers trekking all the way to Ghaziabad, a city in Western UP, where the trial was originally began. "I remember the courtrooms were packed with almost 200 supporters and men dressed in black coats. It was difficult to get a prosecutor to try the case and no lawyer wanted to defend me."

The trial venue was eventually shifted to and tried in a Delhi Court.

The mother however, fought alone. Her husband, a retired employee in the Indian Railways died of motor neuron disease in 2003. Neelam believes, his disease was exacerbated by the shock of their son's death and the stress of the trial. "Chimpu (Nitish's name at home) was a fool to go out with Vishal," he had said shortly before he died.

Neelam, who did not let her younger son be affected by the media trial, now plans to work towards getting a law against honour killing. She also wants to work spread awareness on Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) - the disease that took her husband's life.

There's no doubt, with her steely determination, she will achieve this as well.

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