In 2015, 41-year-old Aaoka was on a fishing trip with her husband in West Bengal, India. They made their living fishing so her husband had all the permits he needed. Plus, he had accident insurance and life insurance from the government. Tragically, he was killed by a tiger. Aaoka got a lot of documents and correspondence from the government, but she couldn’t read or write. Even when she reached out to neighbors who could, it didn’t help. They all spoke Bengali and the documents were in English. She pressed ahead to receive her widow’s rights. First, it took more than six months to get a correct Death Certificate for her husband. The forestry department was responsible for assisting people whose family members died in tiger attacks. It took two and a half years to get the official certificate from them. When she did hear back in 2018, they denied her claim, saying that the attack happened outside of a, quote, “core area.”
She lived in a remote village. To fight for her rights, she had to travel back and forth to town at significant personal expense. Her husband died in 2015. By December 2019, she was still going after the insurance companies for her benefits. The accident insurance company was stalling as it waited for a report from the forestry department. The life insurance company simply said that her case was pending – lost in bureaucracy. She lived alone in a broken-down hut, couldn’t afford to rent the boat any more, couldn’t afford the licenses and permits. It’s outrageous that the parable of the Widow and the Unjust Judge is replayed over and over again, even today. In Aaoka’s case, the law was technically on her side, but people stood between her and what she needed.
Source:
-https://www.widowsforpeace.org/widows-speak-out-cedaw-202/