The local
lawyer was recommended by the district law officer. He was young and seemed to
be a reasonable person. He had an office near one of the prominent hotel in
Una. The office was small and Spartan furniture. When we reached him he was
firing his assistant who was busy typing something on the lap top. We sat in a
small bench awaiting his attention. When I looked around I could see on the
wall a photograph of our local Industries Minister smiling.
As I was
staring at that smiling photo the lawyer became aware of my apprehension and
told me that his father who was trading in commodities in Una Market was a
congress man and therefore he had kept that photo.
He got hold
of all the papers and then asked about the brief background of the case. Then he
told me he would file for a bail in sessions court the very next day. He told
me that VC should be in his office the very next day by 9 AM. I told him of VC’s
wife’s pregnancy and asked him VC should not go behind the bars even for a day.
He took details of the same and asked VC to bring Pregnancy related papers the
next day.
We were a
bit relaxed and reached home late. Next
day morning I went of factory and VC as usual very lackadaisical approach
reached lawyers office by 10 AM. I was getting repeated call from the lawyer.
By then two police Constables were in my office. I told them that VC would come
late as he had taken his wife for a medical check- up.
By the look
on their face I got the feeling that they were not convinced. After an hour I
got a call from my wife that police constables were in my house and they were
asking for VC. In the mean while VC’s wife had come to the balcony and started
abusing the constables why were they looking for her husband. She was also
throwing weight of her father’s glorious past as police officer in Kanpur.
These were
enough for the police to get irritated enough for direct action. By then I got
a call from our lawyer that VC was under Judicial Custody as ordered by the
local magistrate. We rushed to Una court and found our own VC sitting in the
sun sipping tea along with police men.
I was told
by the lawyer that in these SC/ST Atrocities case arrest / judicial custody was
mandatory. No one could escape. When we asked him when he would be released we
were told that the magistrate in all probability release him the next day. I could understand that this was purely a
whimsical decision left to the magistrate.
Using a
common contact met the magistrate in his chamber privately and explained our
VCs case. We told him about VC’s wife’s condition. He was sympathetic and
listened to all our pleas very politely and asked us to take leave in view of
his work pressure.
We
then met the local police man arranged for their dinner along with VC in a
restaurant nearby. After dinner blanket and other accessories were arranged for
VC to sleep peacefully in JUDICIAL CUSTODY !!.....to be continued ......
No comments:
Post a Comment