As a young man, Ram Bachan Singh had fought the British. Now 103, he is still fighting ? for a freedom of a different kind.

A freedom that would give girls of his village a chance to stand on their own feet.

In the rural hinterland of eastern Uttar Pradesh, where the redeeming touch of education has reached few women, Ram Bachan has vowed not to rest till he builds a college only for them.

It is a dream he has nursed for long and age has not dulled his zeal.

“I want to see the daughters of my area attending a college. There is not a single women’s college within 10 kilometres of the village,” he says.

Recently, he stepped closer to his goal when the Supreme Court directed the state government to build a girls’ college near Pijra, where the former freedom fighter is considered a “god”.

“We hope that all requisite steps will be taken for construction of (the) college building without any delay. Attempts should be made that the building comes up and (the) college starts functioning during his lifetime,” a bench of Justices Y.K. Sabharwal and B.N. Srikrishna had said.

The order brought a hint of a smile through the flowing white beard, much like that of Tagore. It could make a world of difference to the women of Pijra and adjoining Bagli where 80 per cent of the women are illiterate and only 7 or 8 per cent have been lucky to have made it to college.

Will he throw a party now that the country’s highest court has ruled in his favour?

Pat came the answer. “My party will be to see the smile on the faces of women here.”

The victory has been late in coming.

The state government had opposed Singh from the day he began knocking on the doors that could open the road to enlightenment. The authorities cited financial reasons and even went to the extent of saying there was no need for a college as Mau district already had 13 where women could enrol.

The government filed a petition in the high court. After it was dismissed, the government filed a special leave petition in the apex court.

But Ram Bachan would not give up despite being forced to leave the Supreme Court once for not having a professional pleader. He did get a lawyer when the court requested Pravin Parikh, the president of the Supreme Court bar association, to help him.

Justice came soon after. On Parikh’s submission, the court said there was “no illegality” in the high court’s directive and observed that it was “astonished at the state government’s attitude”.

Even after the court order, nothing has moved. Parikh spoke to chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, who promised to honour the freedom fighter’s wish. But district magistrate H.M. Yadav said he had not yet received a copy of the order.

It means more running around but Ram Bachan is prepared to soldier on. His wife knows that, too. “If he has to, he will walk miles to meet the people he wants to,” says 85-year-old Ram Pyari.

Ram Bachan has donated 19 acres for building the college and Rs 10 lakh for a scholarship to deserving students. His only condition is that the college be named after him.

His fellow villagers are unlikely to grudge him his little request.

“Ram Bachan Singh has gifted us roads, a hospital and now he is giving us this college. He does not dance like clownish politicians before cameras, he is our god,” says Ram Ashish Singh.

The former village head is not the only one who worships the 103-year-old.

A walk down the freshly tarred village road makes it clear that every villager knows about the old man’s mission.

Even the road seems to revere him. A small concrete slab where the path crosses another reads: Satantrata Senani Road ? or freedom fighter road. The path leads to a one-storey building ringed by trees. On the gate is inscribed the words Ram Bachan Singh, freedom fighter.

It is this fighter in him that drives him on. “Everything is possible if you fight,” he says. “It just takes longer.”

Coming from any other man, the words may have sounded an idle boast. Not from the still agile “centurion” who six years ago had asked George Fernandes, then defence minister, if he could join the Indian forces on the heights of Kargil.

“Had I gone there, I would have gone to fire. I still can fire from revolvers,” he says. “But during peacetime, other wars have to be fought.”