THAT BAD

By Anurag Sharma

At that time, I was the first female intern under Advocate Sunil Shah.
On my first morning, he sent me to the High Court for some of his
works. After finishing everything up, I went to a shop to eat
something. It was a ten by ten room, outside which people were
standing, some eating, some drinking, while some smoked.
I looked around in the shop, just when I was about to ask for
something, the shopkeeper and the people around the shop, started
looking at a far distance.
“Shivansh is coming out”, said the shopkeeper.
That's when I saw him, outside courtroom. He must be 5'9 or 5'10, in
his mid-twenties, medium length curly hair, and physique more on the
skinnier side. He was walking out of courtroom in a handcuff, with 3
policemen beside him. They all came to a halt, when the man
decided to sit on the sidewalk. His face was much clearer now; I could
see his dense beard, and also his small eyes.
He signalled one of the policeman for a cigarette, to which the
policeman, without responding, came running towards the shop
beside us.
“One cigarette”, asked the policeman.
“So, how did the trial go?” asked the shopkeeper.
“There is nothing much to discuss you know. After all he surrendered
and confessed everything.”
“Yeah, right!”, said the shopkeeper while handing over the cigarette.
The policeman pulled out his wallet, “How much?”
“It's on me. Don't worry.”, he replied.
The policeman smiled, and put his wallet back, “Thanks.”
The shopkeeper smiled back.
“And hey, I think her sister is trying her best to decrease his sentence.
So, let's see.” said the policeman.
“Oh, her sister, that poor thing.”, the shopkeeper sighed.
“Yeah, I know. Let's see.”, the policeman said with pity smile.
The policeman went running back to Shivansh. He took the cigarette,
and the policeman lit it.
Although I am new here, but still I have never even heard policemen
favoring anyone like this, except for the Politicians and Businessmen.
But this man, sitting on the sidewalk, was just a common man, who
looked more like he belonged to the lower middle class.
“So, what's the deal with that man?”, I asked the shopkeeper.
“Who, Shivansh?”, he asked.
“Yes, the criminal whom you just gave a free cigarette to.”
He smiled, “Yeah, a celebrated criminal.”
“Oh come on, ‘a celebrated criminal’," I shrugged, "people only
celebrate other people out of fear, respect, or love. And love is
definitely out of the picture, so tell me, what is it?”
“Well I am definitely not frightened by him, so it must be out of
respect then.”
“But, why? Why would anyone have to 'respect' a criminal? He
definitely didn't do a respectable thing to end up in a jail, right?”
“Who are we to judge? Murders can be a litt—”
“What?" I realized it came out too loud, so I whispered, "he
murdered someone?”
“Yes, a policeman.”
“What?”, I almost shouted. “He, murdered a policeman?”
I forgot to whisper this time. Everyone around was now looking at me.
“Well, now I am a little frightened”, said the shopkeeper.
I turned and looked at Shivansh.
Just then my phone started to ring. It was from Sunil Sir.

II

Next morning was an uneasy morning. Yesterday after coming from

Sunil sir’s chamber, I was thinking of Shivansh. How could a criminal
be treated like that? As if he did something that everyone wanted to
do, but couldn’t.
At night too, it wasn’t easy to sleep. When I was lying down on bed,
all I could imagine was Shivansh, I couldn’t get him out my mind. He
was like oil accidently poured on water. No matter how hard I try, I
could not separate it. All I could do was watch it.
It was all the same when I woke up next morning. Shivansh was still
on my mind. So, I decided to go back to the man who celebrated that
criminal.

At about 10, I reached the High Court. I went straight to the shop
where I was yesterday. The shopkeeper was sitting exactly where he
was yesterday. The shop was just as much crowded like yesterday.
And just like yesterday, I went up to him, but this time not for
something to buy.
“Hey, Hi” I greeted him.
“Oh! The girl who shouts.” He replied.
I smiled, “Yeah, which was really inappropriate.”
He nods.
“Ugh…—” Just when I started to speak, a customer comes up to him.
“How much?” the customer asked.
“Umm, 12 for cigarette, 10 for the biscuit, so 22 it is.” The
shopkeeper said.
The customer took out the money and gave him.
I resumed, “Ugh… yesterday you were talking about that man—”
“Who Shivansh?” he asked.
“Yes Shivansh. So, he killed a policeman, and yet the policemen
were, kind of, in favor of him. How come?” I asked.
“Well, ma’am he murdered Kunal Tiwari, but you see that murder
was totally justified—”
“Justified, seriously?” I asked in amazement.
“Yeah seriously. Even I sometimes felt an urge to kill that man. But I
guess it takes something that bad to happen to gain the courage to kill
someone.”
“That ‘bad’!” I thought for a while, and then asked, “What
happened?”
He looked at me, opened his mouth to speak, but stopped. He
looked away from me, at a man coming towards his shop.
“Yes sir, what would you need?” He asked.
“A cigarette” he replied.
Just then my phone started to ring. It was Sunil sir, just like yesterday.

I reached Sunil sir’s chamber at about 11. It’s not a big chamber, but
the best an honest lawyer can get. When I entered, he was sitting in
his chair, looking at a file.
“Hey Shruti,” Sunil sir greeted.
“Morning, sir.”, I replied.
“You are the first intern, who didn’t do any mistake on her first day.”
“Oh well, thank you sir.”
“So, I have got this new case. Actually it’s not new, it had its first trial
yesterday, but the lawyer left the case out of fear.”
“Out of fear?”
“Yeah you see, it’s about this Shivansh Kapoor, who murdered a
policeman named Kunal Tiwari. Even the whole police department is
divided between for and against” he paused for while.
“You see, it’s a little dangerous being in a case in which police
department is involved personally. So…” He looked at me and
thought for a while.
He said, “You know what, I don’t want to get involved in this messed
up ca—”
“No sir” I immediately said, “it’s totally fine, really. I’m okay with
this.”
He looked at me, “So… Okay so, I talked to Shivansh’s sister Krutika.
She said that if I decide to accept the case, she would give me the case
file, which she thinks is really important for this case.”
“So, you want me to bring that file?” I asked.
“Yes. And also talk to her… I mean… You know, study her.”
“Okay sir!”
“Okay then, go on. I’m sending you her address.” He said and stood
up, “And I’ll go and talk to Shivansh”

III

I reached her location. It was a 5 storey apartment where each floor

had 2 flats. She lived on the 2nd floor.
It was a fairly old building. When I started to climb its stairs, I could
see its paints coming off from places, stairs were broken, and the iron
hand railing was all rusty.
When I reached the 1st floor, I read the name plates. On the left was
Vikram Singh, and on the right was Sunil Balgohar. I continued
climbing and reached the 2nd floor. On the left was Aman Sharma, and
on the right was Kunal Kapoor. ‘Kapoor’ so, this must be her house.
I rang the bell, and waited. I looked outside. I could see the gate from
which I entered. On the left and the right, there were few tall dying
plants. I started looking for a tap or any water supply nearby, from
where one would have been watering them to grow them this big. But
before I could find anything, the door opened.
A beautiful girl, with a melancholic face, appeared in front of me. She
wore a yellow top, with dark blue trousers. Her hair was tied in a
pony.
“Yes?” she asked.
“Ugh, Sunil sir sent me to collect a file, and…” I drifted away.
“Oh yes, yes. Come inside.” She gestured me towards the living room
in which laid a big sofa, with two single sofas on its each sides. She
closed the door behind me and said, “Please sit”, and went to the
room across the living room. It was a fairly small 2 BHK flat, which
had a small hall. And sofas took up most of the space.
I sat on the big sofa, and started looking around. There was a T. V.
covered in dust, beside it was its remote, which was also covered in
dust. The floor was cleaner, when compared to the rest of things in
the living room. With dust all over the place, the room looked dull.
She came back with a file from inside, and sat on the single sofa on
my right. She handed me the file. I saw the date, it was 3 months ago,
April.
“And how is this important to this case?” I asked.
“3 months ago, I filed a case against Kunal Tiwari and two other men”
“The policeman, whom…”
“Yes the policeman, whom my brother killed.” She paused, “But we
lost the case.”
“Because of…?”
“Because of ‘lack of evidence’”
“Oh. So, what was this case about?” I asked
She waited sometime, before speaking, “Kunal Tiwari and Mohan
Ram…” her voice faltered, “They… They raped me.”
I could see her lips shaking. A sudden coldness enters her body, and
she starts to shiver a little. A tiny drop of tear swells up in her eyes,
which shined the brightest in the room.
“Mohan Ram and Rakesh Shaw abducted me,” She started to speak,
“and injected me something that made my whole body go numb.
Then they took me to an under construction building, where there
was no light.”
I thought, if she was ‘numb’ or unconscious, how she could know, if it
was light or darkness around her.
“Then Kunal Tiwari, and then Mohan Ram, both…” she faltered
again, “both…” tears rolled down her cheeks. And she was shaking
again.
“Wait, if you were numb, how could you know all of this.” I asked.
She looked at me, then at the floor for some time. Then she said, “I
was awake the whole time.”
I could see tears swelling up again in her eyes.
“I could hear everything,” She continued, “I could feel every touch. I
just couldn’t move any muscle of my body, not even my eyeballs. I
was crying the whole time, but without voice and without tears.”
She waited for some time. She looked up to me and said, “You know
the worst thing was, that I think Mohan knew about this, that I could
hear them. From time to time he came near my ear and abused me,
sometimes shouted at me. And I don’t even know why.” She started
crying.
“It was Rakesh, who allowed me to escape.” She continued, “If they
had injected me again, I would have been dead. And that was their
plan, but Rakesh didn’t do it. Instead he and Mohan started to drink,
and both slept outside the room.
“When the effects of the injection drifted away, I woke up slowly, with
extreme body pain, and teary eyes. When I looked outside, both
Mohan and Rakesh were asleep on the floor. When I moved forward,
Rakesh woke up. He saw me, then looked down, and again went to
sleep. And then I escaped.”
“What about Kunal Tiwari?” I asked.
“He was the one who asked them to do this, to arrange something like
this. So, he gave the money and went away. At one point of time he
said, ‘Don’t throw her in the lake like the last time.’ That’s when I
knew that many girls passed through this same thing as me, it’s just
that, they didn’t survive.”
“So, that’s why your brother killed him?” I asked.
“We lost the case. Kunal Tiwari must have offered them money.
They took all of this on themselves and Kunal Tiwari was proved
innocent. So, after a few days, me and my brother went to his house
one night, where…” tears again rolled down. She started to cry.
“Where your brother killed Kunal?” I asked.
“No…” She continued crying.
“No? Then how did he die?”
She didn’t say anything, just continued crying.
“Wait, it wasn’t your brother who killed Kunal, but… but you!” I said.
She started crying loudly.
“So, your brother took all on himself, for you.” I said.
She just continued crying.

IV

When I left Krutika’s flat, I felt numbness in my body. As if I didn’t

know what to do next, or where to go. The file was in my left hand. I
climbed down the stairs, and looked outside. There was a girl in
salwaar suit, with a small watering can. She was watering all those
dying plants. And I thought it must be her first day doing so.
Suddenly the shopkeeper’s words came to my mind. ‘Something that
bad to happen’, and I thought, that even ‘that bad’ is a small word to
describe what had happened.

I went straight to Sunil sir’s chamber.

He was already there when I reached. Seated in his chair, and going
through a file.
I entered.
“Sir!” I greeted.
“Oh Shruti. Come in.” He gestured me towards the chair in front of
him.
“Sir, I really think we need to rethink about this whole case.” I said
and locked the door behind me.

After two days, it was Shivansh’s case 2nd trial. Me and Sunil sir were
sitting outside of the courtroom, waiting for the police to bring
Shivansh. His sister was already here, sitting across us. Her
melancholic face was shining with sunlight bouncing back from it.
After some time, Shivansh, with 3 policemen beside him, walked
towards us. I could see his face, which had no regret at all. With every
step, I looked at him with my sorrowful eyes. He was no longer a
criminal to me. He was someone who did, what the courtroom
behind us should have done. And I didn’t this courtroom to repeat
the same mistake.
Policemen took him inside, and we all followed.
I stepped inside the courtroom with hope.