In June 2024, Belgian trekker and Chennai-based activist Peter Van Geit lost his 93-year-old mother, Irena Van Goethem. She died in Belgium, where Van Geit had wanted to be with her during her final years.Instead, he says, he was in India, after years of legal proceedings stemming from a 2018 trekking expedition that ended in a devastating forest fire in Tamil Nadu.“Mom, 93 years, dies alone. Her only son stuck in India,” Van Geit wrote in an Instagram carousel recently, recounting the events that, according to him, kept him away from his mother for years.His post is a chronological account of what he describes as a six-year legal and personal ordeal- beginning with the Kurangani forest fire, followed by an arrest warrant, five weeks on the run, a confiscated passport and repeated court appearances, before the Supreme Court eventually quashed the criminal proceedings against him.
From trekking club to tragedy
Van Geit founded the Chennai Trekking Club (CTC) in 2008. He describes it as a non-profit volunteer group that was involved in trekking and social-service activities.
Peter Van Geit founded the Chennai Trekking Club in 2008.
In March 2018, a group went trekking in the Kurangani hills of Tamil Nadu. A forest fire broke out in the area, trapping trekkers.The tragedy claimed multiple lives.Van Geit’s recent Instagram post says 23 people died. (However, figures have varied in different accounts of the incident. The Supreme Court’s 2024 judgment records 13 deaths).Van Geit maintains that the trek had been organised with the required permission. In his Instagram account, he says that after the tragedy, questions turned towards responsibility for the deaths. He also refers to a report on the Kurangani forest fire which, according to him, placed responsibility on Tamil Nadu forest officials. Then, he says, his own legal troubles began.
‘Witch hunt begins’
Van Geit recalls that he was running a 190-km route from Chennai to Auroville when he learnt that an arrest warrant had been issued against him. The words he uses in his post are stark: “Witch hunt begins.” He says his lawyer warned him: “Peter run! They’ll arrest you.” Van Geit then describes driving around 1,000 km to the Belgian Embassy, apparently seeking help. According to his account, the response was not what he had hoped for. He writes simply: “Embassy: get lost.”What followed, he says, was five weeks of uncertainty.“Man hunt begins,” he writes, listing what he describes as political pressure, his account being frozen, media blaming him and police chasing him. For five weeks, he says, he remained on the run. Eventually, the High Court granted him bail. But the case did not end there.
A passport he could not use
Van Geit says his passport was confiscated, preventing him from travelling to Belgium. That became particularly significant as his mother grew older. He describes the next six years as a period of “countless court hearings”, along with a financial loss of around ₹50 lakh. Meanwhile, his mother was ageing in Belgium.In 2023, Van Geit says, a doctor gave him news that changed the urgency of his fight. “Mom is dying. 4th stage cancer,” he wrote. His mother was then around 92.Van Geit publicly appealed for permission to travel to Belgium and see her. The appeal gathered support. In his Instagram post, he says 30,000 people signed a petition asking that he be allowed to visit his mother.The case also attracted attention in Belgium. In June 2023, The News Minute reported on Van Geit’s appeal, quoting him as saying that his mother lived alone and was unaware of the full extent of his legal troubles. “I am the only son,” he said at the time.
Permission finally comes
The issue eventually reached the High Court, which granted Van Geit permission to travel to Belgium. For him, it meant something much more personal than simply leaving India.
Van Geit described meeting his mother after years apart as a “happy reunion”.
He had not seen his mother for years. Van Geit describes what followed in his Instagram carousel as a “happy reunion after 5 years.” It was a reunion he had spent years trying to make happen. But even then, the legal case in India was not over.
Supreme Court ends the case
In January 2024, the Supreme Court dealt with Van Geit’s case. The court examined the allegations and the material in the case and ultimately quashed the FIR and criminal proceedings against him. The judgment held that the trekkers had been caught in a forest fire, which was a natural event, and found that negligence could not be attributed to Van Geit in connection with the deaths.The court also noted that there was no material showing that Van Geit had caused the deaths or had played a role in the fire. Van Geit summarises the outcome in his own words: “Case dismissed. Force majeure. Peter is innocent.” Legally, the important point is that the Supreme Court quashed the proceedings against him; the judgment did not use the phrase “Peter is innocent” as a formal declaration. It found that the criminal proceedings could not be sustained against him.After years of legal uncertainty, the case was finally over.
But his mother did not have much time left
There was, however, another clock that had been running throughout those years. His mother’s. Van Geit says that even after the court case was dismissed, legal and immigration-related delays continued.Then came June 2024. His mother died in Belgium at the age of 93. The final part of Van Geit’s Instagram post is considerably quieter than the account of the years that preceded it. There is no description of another court hearing or another legal battle.Just her name on a gravestone: “Irena Van Goethem (1931–2024). And his words: “Jun 2024 – Mom dies alone.”For Van Geit, the Kurangani fire had begun as a tragedy involving a trekking group. What followed, according to his account, became a six-year struggle through arrests, bail, court hearings and travel restrictions.By the time the legal battle finally ended, he had already spent years separated from his mother. He did get to see her once more after the High Court granted him permission to travel – a reunion he describes as happy.But in June 2024, when she died, her only son was not beside her. That is the part of the story Van Geit appears to remember most starkly. Not the arrest warrant. Not the five weeks on the run. Not even the eventual Supreme Court victory. But the line with which he ends his account: “Mom dies alone.”
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