The Final Verdict

The Final Verdict

‘O

h my god, I – I can’t believe this!’ Sakshi exclaimed, as she opened the gift wrapped plush box. ‘Vedant, this is amazing! I love you, my dear.’

‘Yeah well,’ the guy sitting in front of her said, ‘I guess all your love for me is defined by the gifts that you get on our marriage anniversary.’

‘Umm,’ Sakshi tried to defend herself, sheepishly, ‘I never said that. But any girl would go wow at the very thought of getting a diamond ring. And what else do you expect from me, when you have actually gifted me one?’

So yeah, Sakshi was with her husband Vedant Shrivastava – a well known defense lawyer of the country, at the Starbucks café and he had just gifted her with a diamond ring as a present of their wedding anniversary. He had proposed her 5 years ago, at the same place: The Starbucks Café and the place had been a golden memory for both of them ever since. They often visited the café and cherished all their golden time, spent together. 

‘Oh, I see,’ Vedant chuckled, as he placed his palm over hers. ‘Maybe I should get you a necklace next time to get something more exciting than a mere I love you.’

‘You won’t get that excitement that you are looking for, so easily, Mr. Shrivastava,’ she said, winking. ‘All men are dogs, I tell you.’

‘Yeah, whatever,’ Vedant retorted, a bit pissed off and then they both laughed hard.

They talked for a few hours, savoring the hot espresso, laced with their memories and undying love for each other. They were about to leave, when a shocking piece of news broke out on a national news channel, on television sets at the café.

‘A young girl in her early twenties was brutally gang raped yesterday night in a local state transport bus,’ the news anchor said, exasperated. ‘She is said to have suffered brutal internal injuries and the culprits are on the run.’

It turned out that a young lady was brutally raped the night before, by a bunch of local men. The media termed it as the most barbaric display of misogynistic attitude, in the history of Indian civilization. The girl, as the reports said, was thrown out of the moving bus after the heinous act, stripped naked. She was said to be already unconscious, when admitted to hospital.

‘Let’s go,’ Vedant said, holding Sakshi’s hand as soon as he saw Sakshi’s expressions after she heard the news. He knew that she possessed the weakest of hearts that he had known. She would easily break down at the smallest of tragedies with unknown people and this event seemed no different. Sakshi almost became awestruck with dread and he somehow pulled her towards their car, and they left the spot.

‘Vedant,’ she spoke after a few minutes of dead silence, amid the drive. ‘What will happen to her?’

‘What do you mean Sakshi?’ Vedant asked, sensing the impending trouble. ‘Everyday, many girls are raped in India and so was she. She will face whatever her destiny has in store for her.’

Sakshi couldn’t comprehend what she had just heard. She couldn’t believe the inhumanness and apathy, that her husband just showed, but she couldn’t comprehend anything anyway at that particular moment, so she remained silent. They reached their home and a day shrouded in complete doom, followed. Seeing her in such a miserable condition, Vedant just left for the court and let her heal herself.

A few days followed but Sakshi hardly came out of the shock. She was so deeply affected, that it felt it wasn’t an unknown girl but a piece of her that was brutally raped. Being a woman, she could connect with the plight of the girl who was being referred to as Anamika, by the electronic and social media.  ‘The plight of Anamika’ as they called it, had become a national issue, beyond anyone’s expectations.  The city police was pressurized to nab the culprits and so was the state government. Daily protests against the national government became the new trend and everyone was empathizing with Anamika, without even knowing her. Twitter handles, public rallies, social media rants, and news channel debates followed soon.

Sakshi however, was amazed with the response of the country at this tragedy. Social, electronic and print media was on fire, and so was her inner-self – her conscience.

Why is it every time that a brutal tragedy is all it takes for the people to join their voices against anything that is unfair in the society?

 

 However, the culprits were nabbed soon and were taken on trial. The nation became more furious with each passing day and the issue of women safety picked up priority everywhere, from news room debates to local tea stall chatters. The nation was furious and the government knew it, so all the parliament members started encashing the tragedy shamelessly by offering Anamika’s family compensation in terms of a few lacs or new government schemes named after her.

But nobody bothered to come up with some stringent actions for the crime against women. Needless to say, like many women, Sakshi felt miserable.

‘How was the day?’ Sakshi asked, as soon as Vedant sprawled on the sofa after coming home from the court. ‘You’ve been keeping really busy these days. What’s the matter?’

‘Ah nothing in particular dear,’ Vedant said, hugging her tightly. ‘There is just this new case that I am working on. It’s exhausting me, but there is nothing to worry about.’

Sakshi wasn’t convinced with the explanation but before she could say anything, Vedant went to the bathroom, probably dodging her questions. She was already very much disturbed, so maybe he didn’t want to stress her anymore with the pressure at work. But, the truth then shocked her.

 Vedant was the chief defense lawyer for those 4 rape culprits!

‘How could you do this Vedant?’ she asked, exasperated. ‘How can you defend those barbarians who you very well know are the culprits behind that girl, struggling for her life at the hospital today?’

‘Easy Sakshi,’ he said, casually. ‘There is no need to get hyper over this. Hundreds of girls and women are raped everyday and no one gives a shit. I don’t know why people are going crazy over her, this time around.’

‘Are you insane Vedant?’ Sakshi asked, broken. ‘Are you even a human anymore? You know that they did it and still, you are defending them?’

‘Oh yeah miss Sakshi I know they did this,’ he said, irked. ‘But I am a defense lawyer and that’s what I do, that’s what my job is: to defend the guilty. You know what? After the media blew this matter out of proportion, nobody was willing to accept this case. So they approached me with a hefty sum of money and I had to take it. How couldn’t I?’

‘You will defend a bastard, just because he is offering you great money?’ she asked. ‘I don’t believe you. What if I was the one who was raped and you were to defend them? Would you still defend them?’

‘Stop acting weird, uselessly now Sakshi,’ he retorted back. ‘Be practical. I am not taking these apparently heinous cases for my own self alone dear, you know this. Whatever money comes in is for the betterment of both of us. I’ve defended many culprits before and you never objected. What’s so special with this one?’

She couldn’t say anything and so, remained silent. She just wept inside and offered her sincere apologies to countless Anamkias and their families. She now noticed that how for years people were being crushed by the society with injustice, with the help from the people like her and her husband. She felt terribly sorry for all of them, but still was helpless.

As it turned out, Anamika succumbed to her injuries and left the world forever. The media telecasted and ran the discussions for some days and all the celebrities tweeted their heartfelt sorrow at this loss for some more days. And then, as it happens every time, everyone forgot who Anamika was, except for her family, friends and Sakshi. The next time media bothered to check on Anamika was when the culprits were released on bail and speculations were rife that they will soon win the case and might even be exonerated, due to the lack of evidences.

It was on the same day, that Vedant brought all his clients (yes those rapists) home, along with his paralegal for the case. They planned to celebrate their victory with some drinks and other stuff. Sakshi was so furious that she sent their maid on leave. But she later made peace with the fact that this was after all a reality and she could not skip it, let alone change it.  She served drinks to the men and came upwards. Then after sometime, she started yelling ferociously, forcing Vedant to run upstairs, to see what was wrong.

‘They are the same monsters who killed Anmaika, aren’t they?’ Sakshi yelled, as soon as Vedant entered the room upstairs.

‘Oh, not again Sakshi,’ he said, very much irritated. ‘We’ve had discussion on this before. I’ve been saving the criminals for years now and I’ll keep doing that no matter what. That’s what I get paid for and that’s what I’m good at. You understand that?’

‘But don’t you ever think for once, what the victim and his family have to go through, when they are deprived of their rightful justice?’ she asked, glaring him in his eyes.

‘You’ve completely lost it! The court delivered a verdict today and you, by any means, aren’t above this country’s law and order,’ he retorted and was about to leave the room when Sakshi said something, that froze him.

‘Who cares about the rigged verdict of the courts?’ she murmured to herself. ‘The almighty too delivered a verdict today. They’ve got what they deserved: death.’

‘W – What did you just say?’ he asked, trembling.

‘They are dead by now Vedant,’ she said, glaring at him like a maniac. ‘I laced their alcohol with a crap load of sleeping pills, when I served them an hour ago. The verdict is delivered, by the almighty.’

‘The final verdict has been delivered,’ she kept murmuring to herself as she looked, completely imbalamced, both mentally and physically.

She looked like a real maniac when she uttered those words. Vedant froze for a moment, trying to comprehend what he had just heard. He then rushed downstairs to find the 5 culprits lifeless, with foam covering their mouths. Trembling with fear, he rushed upstairs to find Sakshi, whimpering in fear. She hugged him tightly when he reached there.

‘I’ll be hanged now Vedant, for their murder,’ she said, as she burst into terrible wails. ‘But I don’t want to die Vedant, I don’t.’

She just burst into louder wails and cries, her body trembling with sudden convulsions. And kept murmuring indistinct stuff, that clearly made no sense to a sane person. And Vedant, after a moment of contemplation knew what exactly needed to be done.

‘Don’t worry Sakshi,’ he said, ruffling her long hairs. ‘Nobody will do anything to you as long as I am alive. We’ll figure out a way out of this.’

‘There is no way out of it, I’m a cold blooded killer!’

‘Shhh, don’t say that aloud. There always is a way, my love.’

‘Will you save me too?’ 

‘I’ll Sakshi, I’ll. How can’t I?’ He said, and a long cry escaped his mouth soon after. ‘What are you doing?’

Sakshi had stabbed him in his abdomen with a knife that she was hiding in her Kurti’s sleeves, when he hugged her. When Vedant lost hold of her in writhing pain, she stabbed him again and again, until he couldn’t cry anymore, and thumped on the floor.

‘I am sorry Vedant,’ she said, her eyes dilating with insanity as she saw him gasping for air and his life. ‘I’ll always love you but you need to die Vedant! Everybody like you needs to die, who smother the victims with injustice. Poor Anamika didn’t deserve to die, but she had to, owing to people like you and me Vedant. People like you and me!’

As she said that, she stabbed him more, twice. Oblivious to whatever was happening around her, she then took out her handbag from the closet and covered the blood stained knife with her blue scarf and put it in it and left the house, locking it. She then went to the same Starbucks Café, for one last time, to relive her memories with Vedant. 

After she reached the café, she ordered their favorite coffee and just sat there, allowing the happenings around her to finally sink in. Once she came to her senses, she did one last thing and then waited for the police to come and arrest her for the murder of her husband and 5 other people, as was evident with the confession note that she had just left at the murder site by the same sms that she had just sent to Vedant’s coworkers, confessing her crime.

She sat in the Starbucks cafe, sipping her coffee and staring out of the window. The blood stained knife lay next to her handbag, covered with her blue silk scarf. She thought if her actions could do justice to millions of victims who fall prey to people like her and Vedant, who guard the criminals.

But if Vedant was guilty, wasn’t she his accomplice too? Hadn’t she supported him in all those years that he had defended the guilty? In fact, she was an accomplice and she too needed to be punished for that, she thought. So, she took the blood stained knife and slit her wrist repeatedly until she had no vision or energy to slit those poor veins anymore and as she passed away into an interminable trance.

Who knew that Vedant would face such a fate at the hands of his own life – his wife? And who knew that Sakshi would do something like this to herself and her husband? One thing is evident for sure, the almighty delivers the justified verdict for any action by anyone of us. Howsoever we think we are above all, one can’t escape the justice decided by the creator. After all, his is the final verdict, isn’t it?

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