It took Calcutta High Court to come to her rescue and direct the West Bengal government to pay some respect to the widow of a primary school teacher and pay her dues.

Justice Aniruddha Basu directed the state on Tuesday to pay her pension and arrear since 1968, when her husband died, with nine per cent interest within six weeks.

After working for 15 years and nine months at Bhalkuthi Primary School at remote Lavpur in Birbhum district, Banshibadan Mukhopadhyay died of a sudden illness leaving almost nothing to his widow Raj Rajeswari.

She had applied for family pension before the district magistrate, Birbhum, who in turn directed the district inspector (DI) of schools to look into the matter.

The DI sent the requisite papers to the accountant general (pension) to clear the family pension of the widow but little moved after that.

Raj Rajeshwari moved from pillar to post to get the money to run her household even as the file gathered dust at the government offices here.

Frustrated, she moved moved the Calcutta High Court seeking release of her family pension and arrears.

Justice Tapen Sen had earlier directed the state to explain why it had not released her family pension, but the reply did not come, her counsel Tapan Mukherjee said.