Beaten up allegedly by the Kherwadi police as well as neighbours, and even forced to spend six days in jail for refusing to move out of her hut at the Bharatnagar slum in Bandra (East), Deemar has learnt to live with harassment since the last 20 years. The dogs she keeps for protection have been poisoned to death. Two of the five which have survived have been mutilated. One of them has had his ears slit, the other an eye gouged out by neighbours.

``On Raksha Bandhan, one of the women in the neighbourhood abused me and when I protested, shedragged me by my sari and pushed me on to the street. As usual, the police refused to register a complaint. They complain that I approach them for every flimsy reason,'' says Deemar, who wrote to the chief minister after the incident, ironically pleading for police protection.

But that is not the first time this illiterate woman has written to the authorities, albeit with the help of lawyers. Last year, Director General of Police Arvind Inamdar finally ordered the then Deputy Commissioner of Police of Kherwadi, Sadanand Date, to look into the matter. For a few days, the constables who used to harass her, made a few cursory rounds in the area and the matter ended there. A case has also been lodged at the Bandra Metropolitan Magistrate's Court where the police have accused her of ``beating them up'' at the police station in 1994. Deemar was picked up at 2 am from her home and kept in custody at the Bhoiwada police station. The next day, she was transferred to the Arthur Road jail, from where she wasthreatened with externment.

Among those who have intervened on her behalf is former Shiv Sena MP Madhukar Sarpotdar, the Nivara Hakk Samiti and the Stree Mukti Sanghatana. However, they have all washed their hands off the case, saying it is a personal matter, Deemar told Express Newsline.

A year ago, she wrote to the National Human Rights Commission, seeking its intervention. The replied in May this year, saying they could not intervene.

Deemar accuses the Kherwadi police of conniving with anti-social elements in the area. ``For the last 20 years, police officers have come and gone but the harassment continues. I am not allowed to meet the officers or file a complaint but when the goondas complain against me, they don't fail to take swift action.''

Brushing off the matter as routine, Kherwadi police told Express Newsline that Deemar's neighbours have complained about her ``running a brothel in her hut''.

Deemar says her ordeal began in 1979, when her husband deserted her and left forAllahabad. Shortly thereafter, neighbours began asking her to leave as well. She first complained to the police when local goondas broke open her door and threatened her with a knife.

Till date, she says, she is assaulted and abused. At times, burning crackers are thrown into her house, she adds.

Deemar, who earns Rs 1,500 per month from `tenants' who share her room, says she has spent almost a lakh rupees on her battle till date. ``I take loans against the ownership papers of my hut. Earlier, I used to stitch clothes, but a few years ago the goondas in my area beat me up so badly that my finger was damaged and I cannot sew any more. Right now, I want to file a case against the Kherwadi police and my neighbours for harassment. But no lawyer has the courage to put the police officials' names up front in the complaint,'' explains Deemar, who has pinned her hopes on a letter she wrote to the President of India a fortnight ago.